The Lost Saiyan
by Ryo-chan wolfgirl
Summary: DBZ/Ranma cross. While the Z fighters are visiting Nerima, they're in for a big surprise when they meet a certain Lost-Boy's mother. What's the connection and how will Ryoga react when he learns the truth that his mother's been hiding from him? And how will the Z-Fighters react when they learn that he's Goku's nephew. Ryoga/Ukyo
1. Prolouge

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them. However the character 'Zukira' is mine.

* * *

Far across the universe in the far reaches of the galaxy, there existed a planet called Vegetta where powerful warriors are born everyday. Planetary space pirates with unspeakable power, powerful fighters known as… saiyans.

Powerful, ruthless, fearless, cruel, destructive, and fearful, these mercenary fighters destroy everything that stands in their way, to quench their thirst for destruction and battle, all for the soul purpose of purchasing every planet they destroy for the evil tyrant, Frieza. This heartless mercenary has kept the saiyans under his control for countless years, ordering them to destroy homes, countries, cities, and even planets for his own amusement. Anyone who stood up or against him, ended up dead.

The saiyans had been forced to serve the evil Frieza and his men for years, until one fateful day after conquering planet Kanassa, a planet believing to have special powers, a low-level saiyan named Bardock was unexpectedly given the gift of foreseeing and telepathy and told of the destruction of his planet. Bardock is soon haunted by the horrific visions of the destruction of his planet and all the saiyans. After loosing his crew by Frieza's men and narrowly escaping with his life, Bardock realizes that the visions are very real and that Frieza plans to kill them all. When he returns to his home planet, he tries to warn everyone about Frieza's plan but because he was ranked as a low-level soldier no one would listen, except only one saiyan, his student and the daughter his teammate Torah, Zukira, who was no older then six years of age. Bardock was also her Godfather.

When Zukira had heard that Bardock had returned from the planet Meat, she quickly rushed out of her quarters and hurried to greet her master and his crew, "Father! Uncle Bardock!" But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her respected teacher covered head to toe with injuries and blood, limping down the hallways alone without his crew.

"Uncle Bardock!" She cried rushing to her teachers side, "Uncle Bardock, what happened?"

Bardock grunted painfully while trying to maintain his balance to stand and looked down at the daughter of his deceased crewmate, a strong wave of guilt hit him like a tidal wave, "It was an ambush… when I had recovered from my injuries from our last fight, I went to the planet Meat after hearing that the others went on without me, when I arrived on the planet, I found out from Torah that it was a set up by Frieza and that he ordered his men to kill us."

The small saiyan's eyes widened with shock at what she heard but there was something else that was bothering her, "Uncle Bardock, where's my father and Aunt Fasha and… the others?"

Bardock remained silent, a cold stabbing pain filled his chest as he gazed down at his student, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Zukira… they're dead. Frieza's men killed all of them, they were already dead when I arrived on the planet Meat. Your father was barely alive when I found him. He told me about the attack before… he… he died in my arms." He said in a hushed voice, "I'm sorry."

Zukira didn't hear Bardock's apology, the news of her father's death and the death of the others put her in a state of shock. Zukira had grown attached to the people that were always with her father and auntie on their missions, she viewed them as her family. Bardock not only was her teacher and her father's best friend but she loved him like an uncle. Fasha was her mothers younger sister but she was like a mother to her, ever since her mother died when she was two. Thinking of them made her violet colored eyes fill with tears while her body began to tremble, she shook her head hoping that it was all a dream, her mind was screaming in denial, telling her over and over again that it wasn't true.

"No… no it's not true! It can't be! Why would Frieza do this to us!" She cried, but Bardock didn't answer because he himself still couldn't believe it, "Father… Auntie Fasha… no please…"

Bardock knelt down infront of his student and gently embraced her, hoping to comfort her the best way that he could. The young saiyan wrapped her small arms around his neck and cried into her teachers shoulder, her tears mixing with his sweat and blood. Her pain was almost too much for Bardock to take and he began to wonder if this is how the people he killed in Frieza's name felt as they watched their loved ones die by his hands and every other saiyan. Realizing how wrong his people were and how wrong he was, the wounded warrior began to feel remorse for everything he'd done in the name of that monstorous tyrant. He wished that he could undo his and his crews mistakes, he wished that he could've seen his eldest son Raditz one more time and spent more time with him, and he wished that he could've held his new infant son in his arms when he had the chance, but he didn't. But he couldn't just sit here and dwell on the past and think about the what-if's, he had to think about the here and now, right now.

The injured saiyan pulled the crying child away and looked into her dark violet eyes, "Zukira, listen to me. Frieza is on his way here to destroy the planet and everyone on it. I know it sounds crazy but I've been given the ability to see the future and I now know that Frieza intends to kill everyone of us because we're getting too strong and he's scared of us. I want you to take my spare space pod and get out of here before it's too late! Understand?"

Zukira wiped the flowing tears from her face, "But… but what about you Bardock? Aren't you coming with me?"

The elder saiyan shook his head as he stood up, "I can't. I'm the only one who knows about Frieza's plan to destroy the planet. I have to try and stop him."

Zukira's eyes widened in shock, "No, you can't! You'll die!" She stated, then she grabbed Bardock's blood coated hand and tugged on it, "Please uncle come with me! I don't want to lose you to that monster the same way I lost my father and the others!" She begged her Godfather, more tears streaming down her face.

Bardock gently pulled his arm away from her grasp and gazed down at her, "I can't leave knowing that Frieza is going to blow up the planet without at least doing all I can to stop him. None of those arrogant fools even believe me!" He said pointing down the hall behind him, "So the only other thing I can do is make sure that you get off the planet safely while you still can Zukira. I owe that much to Torah and the rest of my crew."

Zukira shook her head, once again she grabbed Bardock's hand, "No, please come with me Uncle Bardock! You'll die if you face Frieza alone! Please, I want you to be with me…"

_Thwack!_

Before she knew it, Bardock pulled her in close and then swiftly smacked her on the back of the head, knocking her completely unconscious, he quickly caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

He looked down at his unconscious Godchild, his dark eyes filled with sadness, "Forgive me Zukira, but I would never forgive myself if anything were to happen to you, and neither would my crew." He picks her up in his arms and makes his way to the launch room using all the strength his injured body could muster.

After loading her securely into his spare space pod, Bardock gently placed a kiss on her forehead then punched in a coordinate location he knew would be safe for her and then launched her into space, to a planet far away from Vegetta. Once she was airborn Bardock gazed into the sky at the little sparkling light that he knew was his Godchild's and he silently prayed for her survival.

'Good-bye Zukira, it was an honor having you as my student and Goddaughter and having your father and aunt on my crew and as my best friends. Maybe someday you and my sons will cross paths and who knows what the future has in store for you three. Take good care of yourself and good luck my child… and good luck to you too, my sons, Raditz and Kakarrot.'

When Frieza's ship arrived outside the borders of the planet Vegetta to fulfill his plan to destroy the saiyans and the planet, Bardock flew up to meet Frieza head on and try to stop him, even though he knew in his heart and soul that he wouldn't survive, he didn't care. Frieza proved to be much too powerful for the saiyan when he gathered his energy into a massive death ball attack and unleashed it upon Bardock and the saiyan planet. Before the attack hits, Bardock sees his adult son Kakarrot facing Frieza on a strange planet, then a vision of a young ebony-haired woman, looking very familiar, with her arms around a familiar looking man with long spiky black hair, both are locked in a kiss. Then he sees the same young woman again only this time she's holding a small infant child in her arms. He then sees a teenage boy with long black hair standing next to his grown-up sons and the young woman. He gives a small smile before he was swallowed in a blinding ray of light.

To this day only five Saiyans escaped from the planet Vegetta before its explosion.

* * *

(Fifteen years later)

In the far depths of space, a round looking space pod jets its way through the dark emptiness of the ongoing outer space. Inside the space pod is a young looking woman, unconscious inside of the space pod. She was dressed in some bizarre looking black armor with gold shoulder straps, the armor was broken in certain areas and covered in blood, she also wore white gloves and matching knee-high boots and her long midnight colored hair was tousled in the low ponytail it was in, yet despite her injuries, she was still fairly attractive.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

_-Now approaching planet Earth.-_

The woman stirred in her sleep then she slowly opened her purplish-blue eyes, "So… this is the planet Earth?" She groaned as she peered through the small bubble window of her space pod, gazing at the beautiful planet before her, a small smile found its way on her face, "We made it." She gasped while she placed a hand on her small round stomach.

She was already three months along and already her abdomen was starting to swell with child, when she had learned that she was going to be a mother she was both thrilled and frightened for herself and that of her baby because if Frieza or anybody knew of her pregnancy, then there was no question that her life and the life of her unborn baby would be the price she would have to pay. So when she and the others left for a mission ordered by Frieza, she forged her own death scene and blasted off into the far reaches of the galaxy, in hopes to find a safe enough planet away from Frieza for her to have her child and raise it on her own.

As her space pod slowly approached the outer edge of the Earth's gravitational pull, she gazed down at her extended abdomen and smiled, 'Don't worry my little one, I won't let those bastards take you from me or anyone for that matter nor will I let that monster Frieza get has greedy little hands on you.' She told her developing child before bracing herself for impact on the planet's earthy surface.

* * *

(Almost seventeen years later)

A lone figure makes his way through the forest and stopped to observe his surroundings. The traveler was a sixteen or seventeen year old teenage boy wearing a yellow Chinese style traveling tunic and dark green pants with yellow laces tied around his shins and carried and huge backpack with a bamboo umbrella resting on top of it. He also had short thick black hair, which was tied back by a yellow and black bandanna.

"Where in the world am I now?" Ryoga asked himself, but sighs knowing that no matter how hard he tries to find his way the answer will always be the same as usual. He's lost. Tired from walking he strolls over to a nearby rock and plops himself down with a tired sigh. He straps off his backpack and begins searching through the pockets until he finds what he's looking for, a thermos of water. He screws off the cap and takes a long drink, feeling the cold water make its way down his throat.

"Ah that hit the spot." Ryoga said while whipping his mouth with his sleeve.

Suddenly a burst of thunder roared over his head, Ryoga jumped at the unexpected sound and looked up at the sky. He could see clearly that a storm was starting to form, growling and grimacing at the sky Ryoga jumps up from the rock he was sitting on and straps on his pack back onto his back.

"Man, just when I start to take a break from all of my traveling, a storm has to go and follow me. Is it because I'm a Jusenkyo victim or what?" Ryoga shouts up into the gray sky as though expecting someone or something to answer him, then he sighs, "Hope there's an empty cabin or cave around here." He prayed as he began sprinting as fast as he can through the forest looking for shelter until he spots a large open cave, big enough for him to set up camp, "That'll work."

After pitching up his tent, Ryoga built a little campfire just big enough to heat up some water for his dinner and to keep him from freezing to death. Luckily he found some dry wood in the cave otherwise he'd have to risk getting wet and changing into his cursed-form while fetching some or freeze to death. The rain poured heavily from outside the cave, he felt relieved that he'd found shelter before the storm hit and he got drenched. He checked the water in his kettle and found that it was warm enough to use, he used half for his ramen and half to make tea while watching the storm outside.

"Man it looks like Niagara falls out there." Ryoga commented. When he finished his tea and ramen, he crawled into his tent and crawled into his sleeping bag, "I guess I better get some sleep, cause I don't think I'll be going anywhere tonight." He yawns, his eyes slowly close and he drifted off into a cozy sleep.

The next morning the sun shined down on everything with its light and warmth. Ryoga awoke to the sound of birds sighing their morning song, as soon as he was fully awake he packed up his gear, doused the fire, and left, hoping to find his way back to Nerima. Ryoga walked along the trail hoping to find a village or even someone to help him find out where he was or at least give him some directions, but he let loose an aggravated growl.

"Ahh, who am I kidding? Even if I do find someone to help me I'm just gonna get lost again, like I always do!" He balled his hands into fists, "Man, I hate having no sense of direction and I hate getting lost all the time! Just 'once' I'd like to get to where I'm going without ever getting lost! Or better yet I'd like to get to where I'm going without ever worrying about getting lost!" Ryoga shouted angrily, punching a large nearby tree with all his strength.

Bang!

"OW!" Ryoga exclaimed clutching the top of his head in pain, "What the…" He looked around the area to find what it was that just hit him or if there was somebody in the area that was planning a sneak attack on him when a strange orange sparkle caught his attention just a few steps away from where he stood, "Huh, what's that?"

The bandanna wearing boy walked over and found an orange looking crystal ball that was about the size of a softball, "What's this?" He asked no one in particular as he bent down to pick up the strange crystal ball.

It was shiny and perfectly round in shape, there were no scratches or scuff marks anywhere, and it was as smooth as glass, Ryoga also noticed that inside of the ball were little red stars. Four stars to be exact.

"What is this thing? It's not a pearl… at least I don't think it is." Ryoga thought aloud, he looked up at the tree he had stood under when this ball had hit him on the head, 'What the hell was this thing doing in up in a tree?' He wondered then shrugged, "Oh well, no sense leaving it, might as well take it with me." With that he wrapped a cloth around the star-baring crystal ball and carefully placed it in his backpack, "Well, better get moving." He said strapping his pack on and continued down the path through the forest, completely missing the sign pointing down the same path that read:

_Nerima: Ten miles this way_


	2. Vacation

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them. Some characters maybe O.O.C.

(A.N) I don't know if I made the timeline right or not, but this is after the Majin Buu Saga. Meaning Goku's alive, good Majin Buu is now known as Mr. Buu and is in Hercule's care, Gohan has a little brother Goten, and so on and so forth. As for the Ranma Universe I'm following the Anime with a little of the Manga thrown in.

* * *

It had been six months since the horrific battle with Majin Buu and since then everything's been really peaceful for the Z fighters and everyone on the planet Earth, so peaceful that they all decided to take a relaxing vacation to Tokyo Japan for the summer.

In another town just a few miles away from Tokyo, two small boys stood inside a clothes store waiting for their mothers to finish shopping, the first boy was a year older then the second, he was dressed in a green t-shirt with 'Capsule Corp.' printed in white letters on the front and black shorts, and he also had short light lavender colored hair and blue eyes. The little boy stood with his back pressed to the side of the building with his arms crossed over his chest looking utterly bored out of his mind for he hated the shopping trips his mother always dragged him off too, it was one of the many things he and his father both shared. The other boy didn't seem to mind though, either that or he was trying to make it look like he didn't mind, because he just stood next to his companion humming a merry little tune while they waited. He wore a light blue and purple Chinese shirt with matching pants, and his ebony colored hair was worn in a spiky hairdo that resembled his fathers, infact his mother, his big brother, and a few of their friends would often tell him that he looks just like his father when he was his age.

"Man this is **so** boring." Trunks Brief moaned, "Ever since our dads defeated Majin Buu nothing exciting ever happens anymore." He grunted, "And what's worse is that not only will it be months before another Marital Arts Tournament begins again but we have to spend the first day of our vacation shopping with our moms." He groaned.

"What'd you mean, Trunks? We still get to train together, that's always fun, and now that my dad's back we can have all kinds of fun training." Goten said, hoping to cheer up his best friend, "And besides our moms said that we'll still be able to have fun on this trip."

"Yeah as long as we don't fly, use energy attacks, turn into Super Saiyans, do fusion, or any other cool things that we usually do. We just have to act like 'normal' kids and that's boring." Trunks grunted.

Before Goten could reply, their mothers showed up carrying armloads of shopping bags filled with new clothes and souvenirs. Trunk's mother, Bulma, wore a pair of light blue knee-high summer pants and a white t-shirt while her cyan blue hair was tied back in a short ponytail. Goten's mother Chi-Chi wore her usual maroon Chinese attire, her long black hair was tied back in its usual bun on top of her head while a few loose strands hang loosely around her face.

"Are you gonna have enough room in your closet for all of those dresses Chi-Chi?" Bulma asked.

"I only bought a few dresses Bulma. And besides the rest is for Goku, I want him to wear something other then the same orange outfit everyday." She explained setting her bags on the ground, "I swear, men have no sense of fashion whatsoever, it took me months to get Gohan to stop dressing like his father and Piccolo all the time."

Bulma nodded, "I know what you mean, I can't get Vegetta to wear anything I buy for him. He always says 'It has to be suitable for fighting or else don't bother buying me clothes.' I think it has something to do with that pink shirt I gave him to wear when he started living here on Earth." She chuckled, "I don't think he ever forgave me for that." She then glanced down at her watch and looked around the store grimacing, "Speaking of which where are those husbands of ours? They were supposed to meet us back here after an hour." Chi-Chi shrugged her shoulders, also wondering where their husbands and her eldest son were.

Trunks cleared his throat, "Hey mom, can me and Goten do something fun while we wait for dad?"

"We are doing something fun, Trunks." Bulma smiled down at her son.

Trunks made a face that could rival even his own father's, "I mean can we do some exploring in the town? We can look for dad and Goku while we're at it." Trunks boasted, enthusiasm present in his voice.

"Well…"

"Please mom, we promise we won't get into to trouble and we won't do anything… out of the ordinary." The young saiyan coaxed.

The two mothers turned to each other, thought for a minute then turned back to their sons, "Well… okay." Bulma said, "Just remember no Saiyan stuff, alright. No fighting, no flying, no energy tricks, and especially no Super Saiyan stuff either." She told them in a hushed voice, "Understand?"

Both half-saiyan boys nodded, "Yes mam."

Bulma knew somewhere in her mind that this wasn't a good idea but if it stops her sons moaning then might as well, she just hoped she wouldn't regret it later, "Okay then, you two can go."

"Thanks mom, see ya!" Trunks spoke out quickly while grabbing Goten by the wrist a pulling him along as they ran out the store, leaving a dust trail behind them.

The two mothers shook their heads, "Honestly they act just like their fathers." Chi-Chi pointed out, with Bulma nodding in agreement with her.

"They're both part saiyan and they are their fathers sons. What're you gonna do?"

* * *

"I don't know about this, Trunks." Goten said while following the lavender-haired boy into the streets.

"Goten would you stop being a big baby and come on." Trunk said pulling his friend along with him outside of the building, "This is our chance to do something fun while our moms are busy, and besides they'll be shopping for a while. We can't just stand around and do nothing."

Goten was still uneasy, he didn't like the idea of disobeying his mother while they were on vacation, actually he didn't like disobeying is mother at all, not when she controls the most powerful fighter in the universe "But Trunks, our moms said that we're not supposed to do any saiyan stuff while we on vacation."

Trunks groaned, Goten was a great friend to have and the best sparring partner a kid his age could want, but he was such a momma's boy sometimes, "What's with you Goten? You've never been one to pass up on a chance to look for the dragonballs before."

The ebony haired half-saiyan gazed down at the ground, "Well our moms did say that we're not supposed to and that there's no need to look for them anymore, now that Majin Buu's not a bad guy anymore."

Trunks then smiled, "Yeah, but that still doesn't mean that we can't go look for them for them in secret while our parents aren't looking. And if we find one, we'll just tell them that we found them just sitting there where we found them."

"But isn't that lying?"

Trunks thought for moment before answering, "It's not really lying… it's just…uh… stretching the truth a little bit, and besides don't you think it's best to have all seven dragonballs? You know, just in case another evil villain shows up and tries to destroy the planet again and we need to make a wish. It'll save us the trouble of looking for them when we need them."

Goten pondered on Trunks's theory and it did make a lot of sense, after all better safe then sorry as his mother always said to him and his brother Gohan, "I guess you're right, but how are we gonna find them Trunks? We don't even have the dragon-radar to help us find the dragonballs."

Trunks's smile grew wider, "Are you sure about that Goten?" Trunks asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small white stopwatch looking thing with a round green screen.

Goten was beyond awestruck, "Trunks how did you get that?"

"Let's just say I borrowed it from mom before we left." Trunks answered, then he noticed the uneasy frown from his best friend, "C'mon Goten, it's not like we're stealing it, we're just borrowing it and putting it back when we get back home."

"Well okay, if were just borrowing it then I guess its okay." Goten spoke with a smile.

"Great, now c'mon let's go." Trunks said.

Unbeknownst to the young boys, a pair of greedy looking eyes had been watching them since they walked out of the shop. They belonged to a scruffy looking boy in his late teens with tousled dirty blond hair wearing a black leather jacket and torn jeans, he was a typical street punk with no job and lives life by his rules only. He was smoking his last cigarette and needed money to buy more, so he stood waiting on the sidewalk waiting for someone to mug for cash then he spotted the two kids. He saw them talking but he didn't hear what they were talking about because his focus was on the big stopwatch looking thing in the lavender kids hands, a big clucker like that ought to bring in a fine price. So he casually made his way over to the kids, hoping to get close enough and then…

'Swipe!'

He quickly snatched the dragon-radar from Trunks and made a run for it through the crowded sidewalk.

"Hey!" Cried Trunks.

"Heh, thanks for the new watch twerps." He called back at the two boys.

Trunks growled in annoyance, "Why that sneaky overgrown punk! He's gonna regret that!" He declared preparing to fly after the thief.

Goten quickly noticed that Trunks was getting ready to fly after the dirty blond boy and quickly held him back, "Wait Trunks! You can't go flying after him! We promised our moms that we wouldn't do any saiyan stuff remember? If we break our promise then we're gonna be in big trouble!"

Trunks managed to stop squirming in Goten's hold and turned to face the youngest saiyan with a scowl, "And if any happens to the dragon-radar, my mom's gonna ground me for life after she kills me! So what do you want me to do Goten?"

Goten was silent, he really didn't know how to answer a question like that, the only thing he knew was that if he broke his promise to his mother she'd gave him a serious spanking that he wouldn't be able to sit for a least a week, "I don't know. We just can't do any saiyan stuff or else we'll be in really big trouble."

Trunks grimaced at his best friend, "You really are a baby, you know that Goten?" He said, but the sad doey eyes Goten was giving him made him sigh in defeat, "All right, all right we'll do it your way. No saiyan stuff, you happy now?" Goten sad frown was replace with a happy grin, then both boys turned in the direction the thief had ran off in, "Hey you come back here!" Trunks ordered.

"Give that back to us!" Goten shouted as he and Trunks ran after the thief.

The thief continued weaving through the people on the sidewalk, ignoring the two kids and other pedestrians in his way, he glanced down at the device in his hand, "I don't know what this thing is but I'm willing to bet it's worth thousands." He assured himself, completely unaware of everything around him until he turned a corner to an empty alleyway and then…

'BAAMM!'

The thief stumbled backwards, lost his balance and landed flat on his back. He groaned as he slowly sat up placing a hand on his spinning head, it felt like he had just ran right into a brick wall or something that felt like a brick wall. He looked up and saw the backside of someone standing infront of him wearing a large rucksack strapped on his back. He could easily tell from his position on the ground that the person infront of him was a guy, probably around his age, and definitely not from around here. What really surprised him was that the guy was still standing after he had crashed right into him, did the guy even notice anything? Shaking his head he got to his feet and tapped the boy infront of him roughly on the shoulder, he didn't know who the guy was but he was gonna make him pay for 'tripping him' like that.

"Hey you!"

The person calmly turned around to face the thief with a confused look on his face. The thief took a moment to study the kid infront of him, he guessed that the guy was about sixteen to seventeen years of age, he had short unkempt black hair with a yellow and black bandanna tied around his head that kept his long bangs out of his brown eyes, he also wore a yellow Chinese tunic and dark green pants.

Ryoga blinked, "Can I help you?"

"As a matter of fact you can." He sneered, brushing the dirt off of his jacket, "What the hell do you think you're doing standing in the middle of the road like that?"

Ryoga blinked again, "Uhh this is a sidewalk and I was just looking for the nearest path that could help me get to Tokyo."

"Oh, a wise guy huh? I think someone outta teach you some manners about bumping into people." The thief said rolling his sleeves up and putting up his fists like a boxer.

Ryoga just looked at the guy like he was nuts, "Hey I don't want any trouble pal and I don't want to have to hurt you." Ryoga said, "And for the record, you ran into me. There's a difference."

"Oh that's it wise guy, now you're gonna get it." The thief proclaimed while reeling his right arm back for a punch, "Take this!" He shouts launching a hard fist straight at Ryoga's head, however the fist never made contact because Ryoga bent his neck to his right and easily avoided the punch, "Huh?" Was the thief's only response before he reeled his other hand back for another punch, which again was also easily avoided.

At this moment Goten and Trunks had caught up to the thief that took their dragon-radar and spotted him fighting with an ebony-haired boy.

Ryoga ducked and blocked every punch that the leather wearing boy was lashing out at him and was getting a bit bored for this wasn't even close to fighting with Ranma back in Nerima, "Hey listen, I think it's only fair to warn you that if you keep this up I will act in response, and that's something I really don't want to do." Ryoga warned, 'Especially to someone who's not even close to be considered a fighter.'

The thief was taken aback by what the Lost-boy had just said to him but then he smiled smugly, "Aww what's the matter? Is the country boy afraid to fight back?" He taunted.

Ryoga frowned at the guys taunting, "Actually I'm trying to save you from humiliating yourself because you really don't want to fight me."

The thief's smile spread further on his face, "Oh hohoho, so the country boy thinks he's a tough guy, does he? Now that's funny!" He chuckled, "Now shut up and fight!"

Trunks and Goten stood in behind the stone wall watching the guy who snatched the dragon-radar from them attack the Lost-boy various punches, all of which the wandering Martial Artist ducked, dodged, and blocked with ease. They could easily see that the dirty blond boy was doing everything he could to hit the bandanna boy but with no luck, Ryoga avoided every attack thrown at him without even breaking a sweat, he wasn't even breathing hard. As the fight continued they immediately sensed a strong aura coming from one of the older boys.

"Goten do you feel that?" Trunks whispered very quietly that it was silent to the human ear.

Goten however heard it loud and clear and nodded, "Yeah I can feel it."

Trunks nodded, "It's coming from that other guy." He declared then he smirked, "He's obviously a fighter, I mean not only is he avoiding the other guys attacks but he's also holding back." The lavender-haired boy pointed out, "He's keeping his energy level low so that he doesn't accidentally kill the other guy, which is probably a very good thing for that guy. He's no where close to our strength level or anybody we know but he's defiantly a better fighter than Hercule by a long shot." He concluded, boy was he glad that he remembered his father's lessons about reading other peoples energy levels. Then again how could he not, Vegetta practically beat it repeatedly into his brain every single day of his training.

While watching the one-sided fight continue on, Goten tilted his head sideways a bit while keeping his eyes on the bandanna boy, "Hey Trunks?"

"What?"

"Does that guys energy feel familiar to you?"

"What do you mean?" Trunks asked turning to Goten.

"His energy." Goten repeated, "It feels familiar to me. Like I've felt it somewhere before."

"Where?"

Goten thought real hard but then shrugged, "I don't know."

Trunks almost fell over but kept hold of himself, 'Dad was right, Goten is the mini version of his dad.' He turned back to the 'fight', but he couldn't help but think that his best friend was right. There was something vaguely familiar about the other boy's aura, but even he couldn't place it. Why, and what was so special about this guy that's got them both baffled?

By now the blond haired boy was hunched over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath with beads of sweat dripping from his face and onto the pavement. He lifted his head up at the Lost-boy throwing death daggers at the young man. Here he was sweaty, tired, and completely out of breath and the other young man wasn't even winded.

'This guy's some kind of freak.' The nomad fighter was certainly pissing him off, "Why… don't… you fight… back? What're you… some kinda… coward?"

"What would be the point of fighting someone when it's not even a fair fight?" Ryoga asked, "Infact this was never a fair fight to begin with." He added.

"What do… you mean… 'never a fair fight'?" The thief wheezed out.

"Isn't it obvious? You're completely out of breath and you can't even stand up straight." He pointed out, "I'm not even warmed up and you still want me to fight you? Hell you couldn't hit me even if I was blind folded."

"What did you say?" The thief seethed.

Ryoga narrowed his eyes, "You heard me. Oh and by the way, I know girls that can hit way harder then those taps you call punches. At least they can hit me and make me feel it."

"Ooh that was a low blow." Trunks whispered.

A vien throbbed on the worn out thief's head as his shoulders started to shake with rage. It was one thing to call him weak, but to tell him that a girl can fight better than him… well that was one thing he wouldn't stand for.

"WHY… YOU… BASTARD!" He shouted as he reach back behind him and pulled out a knife, "TAKE THIS!" he got to his feet and threw himself at the Lost-boy with the knife in his hand ready to puncture it through Ryoga's head.

Before anyone could blink, Ryoga catches the boys extended wrist with his right hand and grabs the other with his other hand, stopping the blonde boy in his tracks with very little effort. The thief tries desperately to free himself but the Lost-Boy's grip was way too strong, if felt as though iron clasps had been shackled to his wrists.

Ryoga just shook his head, "Didn't anyone teach you that it's dangerous to play with knives?" He said before squeezing the wrist that held the knife.

The blond boy let out a scream of pain and immediately dropped the blade to the ground, Ryoga's released the boys knife hand shifted his stance as he brought his free hand back. The thief was cradling his injured wrist to his chest, he thought it was broken at first but soon realized that it was severely bruised and it was gonna hurt like hell for a long time. Did the guy have a mechanical arm or something? He wondered, because there was absolutely no way that anybody can have that kind of strength, is there? Before he could decide on an answer Ryoga's own fist found its way under his chin and sent him flying straight up into the air.

Ryoga stood standing with his right fist still in the air until thirty seconds had passed, "3... 2... 1..." And without even opening his eyes he caught the dirty blond boy by his ankle. Ryoga opened his eyes and looked down at the unconscious boy, "I warned you." He said to the prone boy before gently setting him down on the ground.

Just as Ryoga was ready to leave he spotted a strange looking device on the ground right by his feet, "Huh, what's this?" He reached down and picked up the dragon-radar, "What the hell is this thing? An antique compass or something?" He wondered aloud while inspecting the strange looking thing in his hands.

"Excuse us mister?" A child-like voice called up.

"Hmm?" Ryoga looked down and spotted two little boys standing infront of him. One with short light-lavender hair and blue eyes and wearing a green child-sized T-shirt and black shorts, the other with spiky ebony hair matching eyes and wearing a light blue and purple Chinese outfit, "Can I help you two?"

"You can start by giving us back our dragon-radar that that guy had just stolen from us." Trunks told him bluntly, pointing at the dragon-radar in Ryoga's hand then holding his hand out, expecting Ryoga to hand it to him.

Ryoga's eyebrows rose up at the boys statement, "Huh… dragon-radar? You mean this thing?" He asked holding up the dragon-radar.

Trunks gave the Lost-boy a look that stated 'Well duh.' Until Goten stood infront of his impatient friend and chuckled, "What he means is that that's something his mom made and we'd like to have it back please."

Ryoga thought it for moment then a thought struck him, "How do I know that this thing really belongs to you two?"

"Read what it says on the back." Trunks suggested.

Ryoga blinked but then he turned the dragon-radar around in his hands and saw printed on the back in small black writing, "Property of Bulma Brief of Capsule Corporation." He read aloud.

Trunks nodded, 'Maybe now this guy will finally get the picture.' He thought, "Right, that's my family's business and my mom's the head of the company. So can we please have the dragon-radar back?" He said almost begging, like his stubborn father he rarely ever said please but in this case he was desperate.

Ryoga could sense the eagerness in the boys voice. He had absolutely no idea what a 'dragon-radar' was nor had he even heard of one, 'Must be some kind of a new toy for kids or something. Weird idea for a toy though.' He thought before letting out a soft sigh and smiled, "Well if it's really yours then here you go." He said handing Trunks the dragon-radar.

Trunks quickly snatched the radar from Ryoga's hand and carefully inspected, making sure that it wasn't damaged in anyway. He sighed in relief when he saw no damage done to the dragon-radar. Then he felt a jab in his ribs, "Ow Goten what was that for?"

"Well aren't you gonna thank him for the dragon-radar?" The spiky ebony-haired half-saiyan said expectedly.

Trunks blinked and then 'hmph' before turning to the Lost-boy, "Thanks for helping us get the dragon-radar back." He muttered.

Ryoga eyed the lavender-haired boy with uncertainty, 'This kid kinda reminds me of Ranma, too stubborn to say thanks to someone who offers him help. Oh well.' He thought, "Happy to help. By the way, do you kids know which way is Tokyo?"

Both young saiyans looked at each other then back to Ryoga, "We're not from around here, we're on vacation with our parents."

"So that's a 'we don't know' right?" Ryoga cleared up and the boys nodded, he sighed, "Okay well thanks anyway." He said, "Enjoy your trip kids." He said giving the boys a small wave and started walking in the right direction towards Nerima.

Both boys stood and watched as the nomad Martial Artist turned the corner and out of sight. Goten smiled at Trunks, "Boy he sure was friendly, wasn't he Trunks?"

Trunks grimaced at his friend, "You really are naïve Goten, you think everybody is friendly until they try to attack you." He said turning his attention to the dragon-radar and pushed the button on the top of it, activating the radar. His blue eyes widened at what the dragon radar was showing him, "Hey Goten look at this!"

"Huh what is it Trunks?"

"Look!" Ha said showing Goten the radar, "There's a dragonball close by and it's… moving away?" He said watching the tiny blinking light that indicated a dragonball moving away from their current position. They both walked out and turned the corner to the right and saw that the dragonball was only ten feet ahead and straight infront of them.

"Hey Trunks, you don't think that guy that was looking for Tokyo has the dragonball do you?" Goten asked.

"If he does have it then we better find him and quick." Trunks declared. He soon broke into a run with Goten not far behind him, soon they spotted the Lost-boy and just as Goten said and as the radar shows, the dragonball was with him, "Hey mister! Wait up!" He called but the wandering Martial Artist didn't hear him and continued walking, the boys saw that young man had turned another corner, "C'mon Goten step on it! We can't lose this guy!"

"I'm right behind you Trunks." Goten answered picking up speed to keep up with Trunks.

Trunks glanced down at the dragon-radar following where the blinking light was going, of course the main question was how to convince the young man to give them the dragonball he had without causing a problem. He also wondered if the guy even knew what a dragonball was or if he even knew the legend of the mystical seven orbs? He and Goten rounded to same corner the Lost-boy had strolled down and were thunderstruck to find not only was the path leading to a dead-end but there was absolutely no sign of the bandanna wearing Martial Artist. There wasn't even a trace of his aura in the whole area.

"Where'd he go?" Goten asked.

"I… I don't know." Trunks replied glancing down at the dragon-radar in his hands and was shocked to find that the blinking light had vanished off the radar, "What the… that's impossible. The signal's disappeared off the screen." He said while adjusting the knob on the radar to see if he could locate the signal again. He adjusted it at least four times until the radar picked up the same signal as before, the radar showed that the wandering young man was at least five miles north of their current position.

"That can't be right." Trunks declared, "That guy was just here not too long ago, how can he be five miles from the town?"

Goten didn't know the answer, "Maybe… maybe he has the same teleporting ability that my dad has?"

Trunks arched an eyebrow, "But dad said that your dad learned that technique on another planet after the original planet Namek was destroyed by Frieza."

"Oh yeah." Goten chuckled sheepishly.

"Goten. Trunks." Both boys turned around found their families approaching them, taking note that their dads where carrying armfuls of shopping bags, Trunks quickly shoved the dragon-radar into his pocket before turning to his mother, "C'mon you two we're leaving."

"Coming mom." Both boys said before following the parents to their cars.

Trunks looked over his shoulder gazing in the direction the wandering Martial Artist was heading in on the radar, there was no way he was going to let him slip by him should they meet again. He swore it.

* * *

(The next day later)

Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were walking home from school in, what the people of Nerima would call it, their own normal way. Normal as in Ranma walking easily along the chain linked fence, mumbling about his day, and Akane walking beside the pigtailed martial artist on the ground, looking very annoyed and angry at her pigtailed fiancé for the way he treated her earlier today at school.

Akane had cooked lunch for him again and Ranma, being all too familiar with Akane's cooking, refused to eat it. As usual Akane got pissed off at Ranma's rude insult about her food and that's when Shampoo bursts through the school wall and came running up to Ranma with a metal box of ramen in her hands for him, which ended with Shampoo making Akane even more enraged by saying that her food would be better off used as rat-poison rather than food for people and Ranma agreeing with her and then getting malleted on the head.

Ranma casted his sapphire colored eyes down at the angry tomboy he was engaged to and sighed, "You know it's not like I asked Shampoo to cook me lunch on the 'exact' same day you did and just show up by busting through the school walls." Ranma said in an annoyed manner.

"I don't want to hear your excuses Ranma, I know how much you love having that Chinese bimbo hang all over you like that, so why don't you do us both a favor by shutting up because I'm just gonna get mad!" Akane shot back angrily.

"Too late for that." Ranma mumbled to himself.

He really didn't know why he even bothered to explain himself to Akane, she never believes him anyway, but just once he wished that he could just slap her across the face when ever she accuses him of being a pervert and not have to worry about getting in trouble for it. Of course he knew that wouldn't solve anything. No, it would just bring more problems his way and he already had enough as it is. He just wished that his father hadn't made that stupid honor-bound pledge to the Tendo's and all the other families they ran into on his training journey, then maybe he wouldn't have to deal with people trying to kill him or marry him all the time or more importantly put up with a hot-tempered, clumsy, can't cook for shit tomboy walking down beside him.

"And I don't 'love it' when she 'glomps' onto me every time she sees me!"

"Well you never seem to be in a big hurry to throw her off of you when she does. Infact you don't even try, you just stand there and let her hang all over you like the big pervert that you are!" Akane retorted.

"Well what the hell am I supposed to do? Do to her like I do to Kuno when he gropes me in my girl-form? Beat the living snot out of her?"

"Oh get over yourself Ranma! I know you like it when she wraps herself around you like that." Akane shot back angrily, "I'll bet that you even like it when Kuno gropes you too."

Ranma almost lost his footing on the chain linked fence, "WHAT!"

"You heard me." She turns and smiles smugly at him, "You like having Kuno grope you when you're in your girl-form. I'll bet you even enjoyed Mikado's little kiss when we were at the skating rink, remember?"

"Now who's the 'big pervert' Akane?" Ranma said, he was on the verge of turning green but managed to maintain himself, "That's the sickest thing I've ever heard coming out of your uncute mouth, well that and when you've announced that you've made a special meal by yourself." He muttered that last part, "By the way Akane, just so you know, right now I'd say you're the one who's the pervert in this conversation here, not me, because only you would think of something that disgusting and actually think that I liked it, well you and your sister Nabiki." Ranma said while trying to control his stomach, "And another thing Akane, I'm starting to think that you like being angry at me all the time and that I think you're jealous."

Akane glared angrily at Ranma, "I wouldn't be so mad if you weren't such an insensitive jerk all the time Ranma, and why would I be jealous of a cross-dressing pervert like you?" She said as she swung her bookbag around in an attempt to knock the pigtailed-boy off the fence, but he easily avoided the swing.

"I didn't say jealous of me you idiot, I meant that you're jealous of everybody who lives here." Ranma pointed out, becoming aware that Akane had stopped swinging and was now glaring daggers at him.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" She hissed, a nasty red aura surrounded her as she began to shake in fury.

"Well let's see, you were jealous when you learned that I was really a guy when I showed up at your house and that I had beaten you in a 'sparring match' and can still beat you, infact anyone can, except Kuno. You're jealous because Ukyo and Shampoo are way better cooks than you and both are a hell of a lot cuter than you as well. Hell, I can cook better than you can, and let's see what else? I can do this all day because I've got a really long list."

Now Akane's red aura was really flaring, "Is that so? If you like Shampoo and Ukyo so much than why don't you 'marry' them instead, after all you're already promised to marry them? I'm sure they'll be more than happy to marry a cross-dressing, sex-changing, freeloading pervert like you!"

Ranma grimaced at his fuming fiancé, "When I want to marry someone, it'll be the one I choose myself and because I want to marry them. Not because of a stupid promise made by my stupid old man, not by some stupid pledge made by our stupid parents, or by some stupid Amazon law!" He told her before he jumped off of the fence, "And since we're discussing cooking I don't even know why you don't just let Kasumi teach you how to cook better." Ranma said, "I'll bet if you let Kasumi give you some pointers on cooking, then maybe the stuff you make won't be as toxic."

At this point Akane's temper was really boiling over, more so than ever, "I don't need any 'pointers'! I just need to keep practicing and in due time, I'll be making meals even better than Kasumi's and my mother's combined." She boasted.

Ranma scoffed, "Akane you're probably the only person in the history of 'Worst Cooks Ever' that could burn water. You couldn't even make hard boiled eggs without breaking the microwave and the hot water heater when my mom was trying to teach you. Which, by the way, it was 'your' brilliant idea to put raw eggs in the microwave, thus causing the microwave to explode, break the hot water heater, and ruin my mom's dinner by flooding everything with water. And you call me the stupid one? I'll bet if you look up 'stupid' in the dictionary, you'll see your picture right next to the word in big fat bold letters."

That was the final straw, Akane had now produced her justifying mallet out of nowhere, "RANMA YOU JEEEEERRRRRRKKKK!" She swung her mallet at the pigtailed boy, aiming for her favorite target, his head.

However the attack never met its target because Ranma easily dodged the attack by stepping to one side and resuming his position on the top of the fence while her mallet slammed and wedged itself into the cement. After all this time you'd think he'd learn to know where she aims when she pulls that hammer out of nowhere, of course if he could help it he could also learn not to make Akane so pissed all the time, but being the stubborn boy he was and being raised by a lazy idiot for a father, can you really blame him?

Akane glared up at her fiancé while trying to free her justifying mallet from the concrete sidewalk, "You coward! Come back down here right now!"

Ranma scoffed, "Oh right, like I'm dumb enough to do what you say just so you can hit me with that thing? Get real Akane, even I'm not that big an idiot." He said as he began leaping from one rooftop to another.

"Ranma you jerk, come back here!" Akane shouted after him, unfortunately the young Saotome was already out of hearing range and was too far ahead for her to follow. She stood starring in the direction her fiancé had fled, growling in furious anger, 'Oh I'm gonna get you for this Ranma. Just you wait.'

* * *

A.N: Sorry for the wait had a case of writers block, I hate that. here's chapter two and hopefully I'll have chapter three up soon. And for those who're reading my other story 'Demon 1/2' I'm working on the next chapter and I hope to have it up soon. Thanks and Enjoy.


	3. The Pig's out of the bag

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them.

Warning: Some characters might be O.O.C.

' ' Means thinking.

* * *

Ukyo let out a sigh of relief when she finished scraping and cleaning the grill in her restaurant from her last group of customers that had just left.

Things had been the same at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, she got up to do the early morning breakfast rush, changed into her school uniform then went to school, hurried back to her restaurant for not only the lunch rush but to also avoid the usual arguing/fighting between Ranma and Akane when Shampoo showed up at lunch, came back to school to finish the rest of the day and then came home for the afternoon and evening rush. That was pretty much how her day would normally go, though normally she would offer her pigtailed fiancé a free lunch if he came by the restaurant, but today she thought it'd be best not to. She didn't feel like dealing with Akane and her nasty temper at lunch time today. Finally curiosity had gotten the best of her so one day after school when Akane left the school grounds, the young chef had asked the Saotome heir why Akane was acting more aggressive then she normally was and she wasn't prepared for the answer she had gotten from her pigtailed fiancé.

Apparently Akane's bad mood had started with Ryoga's last visit to the Tendo household two months ago. The wandering Martial Artist had gotten back from where ever he went and was waiting for him and Akane to come home from school that day at the Tendo household, when they got home the boys exchanged some words then insults which usually ended up with them fighting, but this time Ryoga didn't give into Ranma's taunting, instead he asked Akane if they could talk somewhere privately. Curiosity had gotten the best of the young Saotome and he followed them to Akane's bedroom where he heard something that he will never forget. His rival since Jr. High had told Akane his deepest and darkest secret, he told her that he was her beloved pet P-chan and naturally, after a long silent pause, Akane exploded. Even through the closed bedroom door Ranma could hear his fiancé yelling which turned into enraged screaming, then he heard the familiar sound of a big wooden object making contact with a human head and a body hitting the floor. Meaning that she drew her mallet and slammed Ryoga to the ground with it, then she screamed that she hated him, that she never wanted to see him again and finally she ordered him to leave.

After Ukyo heard about what happened, she didn't know how to react at first. Her first thought was 'That stupid, sneaky, conniving jackass. I can't believe that he would sink so low as to do something like that.' And then she swore that the next time Ryoga showed up in town that she would get the much needed answers from him, one way or another.

Then after taking some time to think and cool down, though she didn't know why she got mad in the first place, she started to rethink her own statement. Did she honestly think that Ryoga was the kind of person that would deceive and manipulate someone he claimed to love with all of his heart for his own personal gain? She had to think long and hard for a while but she already knew the answer. No, the Lost-boy had a code of honor that was as thick as his skull, and she knew that he would never think about hurting those he cared about, not intentionally. He would often say that he'd sooner kill himself then cause someone he cared about grief. She had to admit that he was really good at making dramatic scenes when he wanted to, he was way better at it then Mr. Tendo and Kuno that's for sure. Yet despite the wrong doing on Ryoga's part, he tried to make it right by doing the hardest thing he'd probably ever done in his life and it might've costed him a chance to be with Akane.

Although she had to admit that it took a lot of guts to do what Ryoga did, even though he probably knew how Akane would react if she learned the truth that Ryoga was her beloved pet P-chan. Maybe that's why the Lost Boy kept up the charade because he was afraid of what Akane would do if she found out. With a bad tamper like Akane's, who wouldn't be afraid? She'd have to ask him the next time he was back in town.

Even when two months had passed since the Lost Boy's confession things didn't get any better, Akane was still mad and from what she had seen Akane was taking her anger out on the closest thing next to her, which of course was Ranma, and she was becoming even more violent. Of course that was no surprise there.

It was even more surprising when she learned from Ranma that he was the one who actually gave Ryoga the pig curse while he was training at Jusenkyo. At first she didn't believe it but when the pigtailed boy explained how it happened and the reason why after he found out he didn't tell Akane after all this time, she started to understand why the youngest Tendo was angry at Ranma and why Ranma made all the pig jokes when ever Ryoga was around. Yet despite Ranma claiming that it was an accident, she can still see why the wandering Martial Artist was always angry at Ranma and she started feeling sorry for the bandanna boy.

After Ranma left her restaurant that night, something in the back of her mind came to realization, she and the Lost-boy had a lot more in common then she originally thought. In the beginning she wanted to kill Ranma when she had first arrived to Nerima, to seek revenge for what his father had done to her family for leaving her behind and to regain her family's honor. But then she stopped attacking the pigtailed boy when Ranma had called her cute and she found herself falling instantly in love with him, and not too soon after that she became involved in this fiancé free-for-all battle to try and win the pigtailed-boy for herself.

Ukyo finished wiping off the grill but her eyes never left its steamy surface, it was as though the dancing steam coming off of the grill was mesmerizing her but then she looked out one of the restaurant windows and sighed, 'Where ever the big lug is, I hope he's okay.'

Ukyo paused in her cleaning, she didn't know when she started growing concerned for the Lost-boy, when she'd first met him her first thought was that he's a pigheaded jackass who has no sense of direction and his only goal in life is to kill Ranma and win Akane's heart, but was she any different? Isn't that what she wanted when she came to Nerima? Well except for the 'winning Akane's heart' part.

After she started partnering up with him in her plans to break up Ranma and Akane, she started talking to the boy and in the process she got to get to know him little by little. She noticed that when they would talk, the fanged boy would often talk about where he had been in his 'travels' and what souvenir he brought for Akane then he started opening himself up to her. During their little talks she started to see bits and pieces of Ryoga's true persona, that there was something else beneath all of the anger and despair that the Lost-Boy portrays himself to be on the outside, there was also a gentle and considerate side to the wandering young man, a side that's rarely ever seen.

Sometimes he'd stop by at the restaurant and the two would just talk, mostly about what's been going on in Nerima while he was gone and about his travels. He would even offer to help her with cleaning up the restaurant after she'd had a big rush. She never thought that she'd actually become excited whenever the Lost-boy showed up at her restaurant. Sure they'd have some arguments here and there but in the end they'd forget about what they were arguing about, it was a strange kind-of friendship, but it worked for them. Plus she had to admit that she missed having the big lug around, at least when he was here she had somebody to talk to, whether it'd be about another plan to split Ranma and Akane, or if she had a bad day, or if she just wanted someone to talk to. It sure beats being alone and she was sure that Ryoga felt the same way. He spends most of his time on the road with no one but himself, at least she had Ranma and some girls from school to talk to but even with the company of her fiancé and the students from school, it just didn't feel the same as when she was with Ryoga. With Ryoga she always felt so comfortable around him and that she could tell him anything and not worry about him telling anyone, he would always listen and sometimes offer advice.

She also began to notice that the Lost-Boy was fairly handsome too, in a rugged outdoorsmen kind of way, and she thought that the way he stuttered and blushed whenever he got embarrassed was kinda cute as well. Even his fangs made him look adorable, when he's not snarling. He just needs to not look so cantankerous all the time and maybe smile a little more, then maybe he'd have girls fawning for him. The bandanna boy was a pain in the butt sometimes but he does have a big heart and no matter what he would always try to do the right thing and be there to help those in need, when he was around anyway. She guessed that maybe she had a bit of a soft spot for the strong, quiet, yet sensitive types of men. Though she didn't know anybody, other then Ryoga, who fit into all three of those categories.

She looked up from her grill and gazed out the window, where was Ryoga anyway? Nobody had seen or heard from him in weeks, not that that was a big surprise. The only time anybody ever knows where he is is when he sends letters to Akane letting her know where he is, or where he thinks he is, or when Ranma gets a challenge letter from him, but so far nothing had been received for either of them. If Akane had received anything from Ryoga about where he was or trying to apologize for his actions, there was high doubts that Akane would even bother to tell anyone about it or even bother to open and read any letters that the Lost-Boy had sent her.

She was so preoccupied with her own train of thoughts that she didn't notice that someone had just walked into her restaurant, 'At least Ryoga admitted that what he was doing was wrong and he had the guts to try and make it right by telling her the truth, even though he knew that she would get mad and hate him.'

"Excuse me."

Ukyo jumped at the voice, she looked up quickly and was startled to find the very person she'd just been thinking about standing just a few feet in front of her.

"Ryoga!" She said, trying to calm her breathing.

"Hey Ukyo, sorry if I startled you." He said apologetically.

Ukyo shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Sugar, c'mon in and have a seat." She said, after regaining her composure. "So uh… how about I make you some food? You must be hungry after all that hiking."

Before he could answer her, she had already pulled out some left over batter from earlier and pours it on the grill. While she pulled out more ingredients for his meal, she also began to think as to how she was going to ask him about what happened at the Tendo's two months ago. A big part of her was telling her to just come out and say it, he owes an explanation anyway and she agreed with that, but another part of her told her to not rush it, he might still be hurting but she still wanted to know why he did what he did.

"Wow, you've been gone for a long time, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever Sugar. Where've you been?" The young chef immediately began mentally kicking herself for acting like a dork just now, that wasn't really the best way to start a conversation but she didn't know what else to say to the sensitive boy.

Ryoga shrugged, "Nowhere, really. Just here and there. Met some new people, helped a couple of kids, stopped an idiot from running off with some kid's radar thing or whatever he called it. Nothing big really." He replied while watching her prepare his food, "Anything new happen while I was gone?"

"Oh you know the usual." She replied, flipping the Okonomiyaki over on the grill, "Kuno challenged Ran-chan to a fight at school and lost, Shampoo showed up at lunchtime to deliver Ran-chan some ramen for lunch, Akane got mad at him and the two started arguing, again." She paused, she thought that the last thing that the wandering Martial Artist wanted to hear about is Akane, especially after their last encounter. Surprisingly the Lost-boy didn't even flinch when Akane's name was mentioned either that or he didn't noticed at all, which she thought was really odd. She shrugged her shoulders and flipped the finished Okonomiyaki onto his plate, Ryoga nodded his thanks and dug straight into his food.

He took a few bites and swallowed, "Perfect as always Ukyo." He said before taking another bite.

Ukyo couldn't help but smile, he always commented on her food and it always made her smile. In fact she couldn't remember the last time Ryoga ever said anything negative about anyone's food. Not even Akane's, even though everybody knows how bad a cook Akane really is. She always got positive comments from Ranma and it would always filled her heart with joy knowing that her fiancé loved her food. I guess that's why he always got free food from her.

"So I take it that you heard about my last visit to the Tendo Dojo, didn't you?" Ryoga spoke bluntly, breaking Ukyo from her thoughts.

"Huh?" Ukyo was by far astonished that Ryoga had just brought up the subject she wanted to talk to him about, "How do you know that?"

Ryoga shrugged, "Word travels fast in a small area." He said, "Actually I figured that Akane would still be angry with me and everyone would get curious as to why she's so mad and ask Ranma if he knew why Akane's angry this time because he's usually the one who makes her mad. I figured you'd be the first one to ask him since her family and Mr. Saotome are pretty much used to her temper by now and neither the Kuno's nor the Amazons would even care that she's mad at Ranma. Well except maybe Kuno."

Ukyo nodded but was also taken aback at how seemingly calm Ryoga was being on the subject, 'Well I might as well ask him right now since we're on the subject anyway.' She thought, "Speaking of Akane, there's something I want to talk to you about. I've already heard part of the story from Ranma but I want to hear the rest from you." She told him.

"If Ranma's already told you the story then why do you want to hear it from me?" Ryoga asked.

"Because you're the only one who can answer the questions that I'm about to ask you." She told him before crossing her arms over her chest, "And I want the honest truth, not your usual 'It's all Ranma's fault' crap that you keep repeating over and over again like a broken record. Got it?"

Ryoga sat in his seat bewildered and a little afraid. The tone in Ukyo's voice raised a flag in his mind, he knew that when he told Akane his darkest secret that she would want to know why he did what he did and that he would have to answer those questions, before she pounded him or killed him, but he never thought that Ukyo would want him to explain himself to her. Sure they were friends but isn't that all they are? But she's also engaged to Ranma, along with a few other dozen girls.

Finally he nodded after he gently pushed his now empty plate away from him, "Okay, what do you want to know?"

* * *

Ranma leapt from one rooftop to another as he made his way to his destination. Actually he didn't care where he was heading just as long as it got him away from his pissed off tomboy fiancé for a while, even though he knew that when he got home later that Akane would still be angry with him and he would most likely be pestered by his father and Mr. Tendo and they'd want to know why Akane's so mad and then they'd make him apologize to her for making her mad in the first place. It's all part of some kind of formula. Every time Akane has a hair up her ass about something whether it was caused by Ranma or not, everyone always points their fingers at him.

Although Ranma had to admit that he did have a habit of say the wrong thing at the wrong time. However Akane's mean streak was caused by something else and Ranma knew that he was partially responsible for it. Okay maybe more then partially responsible.

"Oh man, I'd hate to see what she'd do to Ryoga if he were to show up anytime soon." He wondered aloud.

The day when Ryoga told Akane the truth about P-chan still burned in his memory. When the Lost-Boy had managed to find his way back from where ever the hell he was and find the Tendo Dojo, the first thing that ran through the pigtailed boys mind was that his rival wanted to fight with him, again. That's all the Lost-boy ever did when he got back from being lost, the second he saw Ranma he would start attacking and go on and on about how he's seen hell because of him, then he'd try to talk to Akane and present her with some stupid gift to he got her while he was lost and then they'd start fighting again, Ranma would win the fight as usual, Ryoga would get lost again and then the whole thing starts all over again. Unless the Lost-Boy learned a new technique and won the fight with it, then he'd try to find a way to beat it or create a counter attack to it and he'd challenge Ryoga to a rematch and then he'd win and Ryoga would get lost again. However Ryoga surprised everybody that had been watching by not reacting to Ranma's usual taunting, he simply turned to Akane, surprisingly calm, and he asked if he could talk to her in private because he had something important to tell her.

Being led by his own curiosity, Ranma followed the two to Akane's room and heard the two talking behind the closed bedroom door. Behind the closed door he heard the wandering young man tell Akane that he wanted to tell her something that he had been afraid to tell her for so long, he immediately thought that the Lost-Boy was going to tell Akane his true feelings for her, that he loved her, but when he heard the words 'Akane, I'm P-chan,' he became mute and time had stood still for what seemed like an eternity.

He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe what he had just heard. His rival since Jr. High had just told Akane his terrible secret just like that and Akane just erupted with anger. Ranma expected his rival to tell his tomboy fiancé that he was the one who gave the fanged Martial Artist the curse and blame him for the whole thing, but surprisingly the Lost-boy said nothing about what happened when he went to Jusenkyo China. Judging by the sounds that came from the other side of the door, Akane released her fury on Ryoga by malleting him into the ground and it didn't sound like Ryoga even tried to dodge or protect himself from the fury infused hammer.

After Akane ordered him to leave her room and the house, Ranma had followed him outside and made a comment to the Lost-Boy. He told him that what he did was gutsy but he should've told her from the start then maybe things would've been different and all this could've been avoided. After that the pigtailed boy expected his rival to attack him right on the spot, to yell and scream that it was all his fault, but the young man just stood there without even turning to face the pigtailed boy.

His last words before leaving the Tendo residence still echoed in the young Saotome's mind, _"You're right, it is my fault that this went on for as long as it did and I should've told her in the beginning, but I didn't. And now that I've told her the truth I know that she'll never forgive me and probably hate me for the rest of my life, but at least she knows the truth and I don't have to lie to her about it anymore." _With that Ryoga left the Tendo residence with tears in his dark brown eyes and a broken heart.

After a while of standing in one spot staring at the place his rival had stood two seconds ago, Ranma snapped out of his daze and went after the wandering young man, in hopes of getting to talk to him before he wandered off but just as he rounded the stone wall and into the streets, the young Hibiki boy was already gone.

'Man I'd really like to know how he can just disappear like that.' Ranma thought, 'That nifty little trick might come in handy the next time Akane wants to hit me with that damn mallet of hers or the next time she says she cooked dinner.'

'_Gaaarrrrppphhh.' _ Went his stomach.

"Oh yeah that's right, because of that stupid argument with Akane during lunch at school I didn't get to eat lunch." He stopped on the last rooftop he landed on, "I guess I could stop by the Cat Café for a bowl of Ramen from Shampoo, but then there's also a very good chance that I'll get glomped by Shampoo then attacked by Moose if he saw Shampoo hanging all over me and if Akane found out that I was getting food from Shampoo then she'd get really mad. Like that's anything new with her." He declared. The thought of Akane pummeling him with her trusty mallet immediately made his head hurt since his head was her favorite target for her mallet and her wrath to strike. "So scratch that idea. I guess I could pay Ucchan a visit and eat there. That way I can get something to eat and hide from Akane's bad mood, at least until she cools off." He concluded as he made his way to Ukyo's restaurant.

* * *

The Brief family and the Son family were waiting to be seated at an 'All-You-Can-Eat' restaurant just a few blocks away from Furinkan High School. They decided to stop at an all you can eat restaurant because not only did Goku's stomach growl so loud that people thought that a herd of lions was on the loose in town but also so they wouldn't have to pay so much. Bulma and Chi-Chi know all too well about Goku's eating habits whenever he gets hungry, Bulma having known Goku since he was a kid and Chi-Chi being married to the bottom-less pit of a man.

Finally the seven were seated and all ordered the 'All-You-Can-Eat' special. Before they could dish up, Chi-Chi and Bulma decided that now would be a good time to tell their husbands not to go overboard with the food because the last thing that they wanted to do while on vacation is make a scene with their eating habits.

"Now remember Goku try not to go over board with the plating and the consumption of your food okay." Chi-Chi said.

Goku began to laugh sheepishly, "I'll do the best I can Chi-Chi."

Bulma eyed her husband and son, "That goes double for you too Vegetta."

Vegetta grunted, "It's not our fault that we need to eat a lot to make up for the amount of calories that we burn when we fight."

Bulma rolled her eyes at her husband, "We're just saying don't wolf down your food when you sit down to eat. We may be on vacation but that doesn't mean you can't act civil even in public."

"All right, all right, we heard you already." The Saiyan prince spoke, trying to control the outburst of his voice, "Enough of your nagging woman." He said in a hushed voice, earning him a glare from his wife.

Everybody headed over to the buffet table to begin plating their plates with food, all but Trunks. His mind was something rather than food, he was thinking about the young man from the last town who helped him get the dragon-radar back and asked him and Goten how to get to Tokyo. He didn't know why but there was something about that guy that gave Trunks a funny feeling, he thought maybe it was because the bandanna boy was carrying one of the seven dragonballs but for some reason he knew that wasn't the main reason. He had to be extra careful when checking the dragon-radar, he didn't want his mother to see that he took the dragon-radar without her permission infact he didn't want his mother to find out that he had it at all. The last time he checked the radar, the moving dragonball that he suspected was the bandanna wearing Martial Artist, the dragonball was only a few blocks away and had stopped. Somehow he had to find some way to get away from his parents and find the young man before he loses him again.

"Trunks?" Bulma spoke. "What's the matter son?"

Trunks looked up to find his mother standing beside him, "Uhh… nothing mom. I… I was just thinking that's all."

Bulma didn't look convinced though but decided that if her son didn't want to talk about it then she wouldn't push it, "Alright then. C'mon let's go eat before Goku and your father eat everything in sight." She joked.

Trunks couldn't help but smile, "Okay mom."

* * *

Back at Ukyo's, Ukyo stood silent behind the grill after Ryoga had finished his tale. Her mind still absorbing everything she heard. The lost-Boy had explained everything to her and more so and it was safe to say that she was astonished by what he told her. Of course it didn't stop her from pulling out her battle spatula and whacking him upside the head with it.

Ryoga looked at the young chef in minor annoyance while rubbing the forming lump on his head made by her spatula, it didn't really hurt but it's the fact that she hit him that annoyed him. Though a small part of him expected that she would hit him, "What'd you do that for Ukyo?"

"For being a real jerk that's what." She replied, "And for not telling me sooner. Who else knows about your little secret?"

"You mean besides Ranma, his father, and the Tendo's?" He asked, Ukyo nodded, "Well the Amazons found out after Shampoo's Great Grandmother showed up." He said, he noticed the bewildered look on Ukyo's face, "It's not what you think Ukyo. They only found out because Shampoo's Great Grandmother tried to cook me for dinner after I had just got back from… training in the mountains." He said with a faint blush on his cheeks.

Ukyo saw the blush and suspected that Ryoga was trying to cover up the fact that he was really lost, but she decided not to push it, "So then why did it take you so long to finally tell Akane the truth about P-chan?"

"Well for one thing, that temper of hers scares the living hell out of me believe it or not." Ryoga said bluntly.

Ukyo was a bit taken aback by his answer, for she never expected him to admit that, but had to agree that he was right, "Can't argue with that Sugar."

Then he lowered his eyes to the counter, "But seriously though, I wanted to tell her sooner, really I did, but every time I managed to work up enough courage to tell her, I would just freeze up and end up saying something else. And every time it happened it just made me more afraid to tell her and that made me feel even worse." He lifted his gaze to look at Ukyo, "Then I realized that I was being completely dishonest and unfair to Akane by keeping up with the charade of being her pet. So before I came back to the Tendo Dojo I came to the decision that no matter what I had to tell her the truth, even if it meant her hating me for the rest of my life and never wanting to speak to me ever again."

Ukyo stared at the Lost-Boy in awe for not only by what he had told her but also by how calm he was being, despite the fact that the woman that he had been pining for since he arrived in Nerima had just shattered his heart, "You know Sugar I have to say that I'm very impressed at how well you're handling all of this."

Ryoga gave her a questioned look, "What do you mean?"

"I mean I kinda thought that you'd still be moping about somewhere, you know moaning your brains out about how you lost Akane forever and stuff like that…" She paused when she realized the things that she'd just said and was mentally kicking herself, 'Oh smooth move Jackass, rub it in his face why don't you? Why don't you make him feel worse by dancing around him singing 'Ha-Ha Akane dumped you and you're a loser!' over and over again?'

"What do I look like, a drama queen like Mr. Tendo?"

Ukyo couldn't help but laugh, it amazed her that Ryoga actually made a funny joke like that, "No you're nothing like Mr. Tendo Sugar, but you have to admit that you have been known to be a little overdramatic."

Ryoga was about to argue but then realized that Ukyo was right, he recalled that there had been a few times where he made a really big deal out of a few things that had happened, whether it was about proclaiming his love to Akane or getting revenge on Ranma or whatever was going through his mind at the time.

He smiled, "Okay, okay, you got me on that." He chuckled, "As for me losing my chances with Akane forever… well you can't really lose something that you never had in the first place."

Ukyo blinked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Ryoga cleared his throat, "I mean that I never really had a chance with Akane. I was only fooling myself into thinking that I could be more than just a friend to her and I think I've always known that, but I just hoped that maybe there was a slim possibility that I could get passed the 'we're just good friends' part and be something more to her."

Ukyo nodded, she could understand that completely, "So then you're not upset that Akane may never love you as you loved her?"

"Well I was at first but then after having some time to think about it, I'm actually okay with it. One thing about having no sense of direction and being lost all the time is that it gives you a lot of thinking time, whether you like it or not." He said in a pleasant way, then he noticed that Ukyo was looking at him confusingly, "You see for a long time now I thought that Akane was the most wonderful girl in the entire world. I thought the world of her because she was the first person, since I arrived back here, who ever showed me kindness and love to me when I was in my cursed form, I guess that's when I fell head over heels in love with her and… well you get the point right?" Ukyo nodded, "And even though it hurt so much when I finally told her my secret I'm actually glad that I told her because it feels like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders and it also made me realize something."

"And what's that?"

"That my feelings for Akane were nothing more but a simple crush and that Akane isn't the only girl in the world." He said smiling, "And now that I'm not pinning for her anymore maybe I can start over with her and who knows maybe meet someone who can deal with…

"Having a boyfriend that turns into a pig with a splash of cold water?" Ukyo finished for him with a smile planted on her face which earned her a frown from Ryoga, "Relax Sugar I was just kidding." She could see that his face hadn't changed, "C'mon Ryoga you gotta learn to lighten up every once in a while and not be so serious all the time."

This time Ryoga gave a small fanged smile, "I guess you're right."

Ukyo giggled, "You know you amaze me sometimes Ryoga, and I mean that in a good way. But I have to say that the way you stepped up to own up to your mistake and take responsibility for your actions towards Akane… well let's just say that I'm proud of you for doing the right thing." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "And I mean that sincerely hon."

Ryoga smiled warmly at the young chef, "Thanks Ukyo that means a lot to me. I guess we all have to grow up sometime right?" He reached back into his back pocket, "So how much do I owe you for the food?"

Ukyo shook her head, "It's on the house Sugar." She said, she then flipped another okonomiyaki onto his plate, "And so is this one. After what you've been through I think you deserve a break this time." Then she winked.

Ryoga was about to reply but then stopped, guys like him don't get too many breaks like this in their lives, "Thanks Ukyo."

"Don't mention it Sugar."

Just then Ranma Saotome made his entrance through the door, "Hey Ucchan, I hope you got extra batter cause I'm star…" He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed that Ryoga was also in the restaurant sitting on one of the stools. He could help but smile upon seeing his rival, "Hey Ryoga, long time no see buddy!" He exclaimed giving the bandanna boy a hearty slap on the back.

Ryoga hardly felt the slap and rolled his eyes, "Hello Ranma." He replied flatly. He was hoping that he'd see Ranma later in the day because even though he still wanted the pigtailed boy to pay for the hell he caused in his life, he wasn't really in the mood to fight. But he had to admit that it felt nice to be missed by someone, even if it was your rival.

Ukyo gave a big smile, "Hey Ran-chan, what can I get you?" She asked in an enthusiastic manner.

Ranma took a seat next to the bandanna boy, "You know me Ucchan, anything with squid is just fine."

The ribbon wearing chef nodded, "One squid special coming up." She said as she started working on his food.

While she prepared his food Ranma turned back to the wandering Martial Artist sitting beside him, "So where've you been Ryoga?" He asked, deciding that it would be a real good idea to lay off on the 'pig jokes' and the 'pig names' while Ryoga was around, at least for the moment.

Even Ryoga noticed that Ranma didn't use his usual pig wisecracks when addressing him like he always did, 'Akane must've given him one too many poundings on the head with that mallet of hers.' Ryoga thought then shrugged, "Oh you know me, just here and there. I never know where the hell I am when I'm lost."

Ranma was about to open his mouth and say something sarcastic about Ryoga's sense of direction but something in the back of his mind told him to just keep his mouth shut and just eat your food, and right on cue Ukyo placed his order of freshly made squid okonomiyaki in front of him.

"Here you go Ran-chan, one squid special okonomiyaki with extra squid just like you like it." She announced cheerfully.

Ranma snapped his head to attention, "Huh… oh thanks Ucchan." He said before digging into his food and devouring it in less then seconds.

Ryoga scoffed softly while shaking his head, 'And he calls me a pig?' He thought while calmly eating his own okonomiyaki.

Ranma swallowed his mouthful of food in a loud gulp, "That was great Ucchan. Can I have a second helping please?"

The spatula wielding chef smiled amusingly, "Sure thing Ran-chan."

While the Saotome heir waits for his second helping he turns back to the bandanna boy again, "Hey Ryoga, about what happened at the Tendo's two months ago. There's something that I just got to know."

"What's that?" Ryoga asked with curiosity in his voice.

"What the heck were you thinking? I mean what made you decide now of all time to tell Akane the truth about P-chan?" Ranma asked, "I mean I'm glad that you finally told her but still what convinced you…or better yet what 'made' you decide to tell her?"

Ryoga shrugged, "I couldn't stand lying to her anymore and I realized the longer I waited to tell her the truth then the harder it was going to be to tell her, not to mention the idea of how angry Akane would be if she found out about my curse on her own." He said, for some reason the idea of how it would've turned out the other way made Ryoga cringe involuntarily.

"Well you sure picked a hell of a time to tell her the truth." Ranma grumbled.

"Well you know what they say, 'better late then never' I guess." Ryoga replied after finishing his second okonomiyaki.

"If you say so." He said stuffing his mouth with okonomiyaki.

Ukyo cleared his throat, "So Ryoga what're you gonna do if you run into Akane later on? I mean she was in a pretty bad mood at school and I think seeing you might not put her in a better mood." She said.

"Like that's anything new with her." Ranma muttered under his breath.

Ryoga shot a glare at the pigtailed boy, having heard his mumbling, then he shrugged his shoulders again for who knows how many time that day, "Well I know that she told me that she never wanted to see me again but you know what, I live here. My home is here, so I'm not gonna stay out of Nerima and away from my home just because she's mad at me. So she can yell, scream, and hit me all she wants, but this is where I live and if she doesn't like it then she'll have to deal with it."

Both Ranma and Ukyo were awestruck by what the bandanna-boy had just said, his sudden boost of confidence almost made Ranma spit out his mouth full of okonomiyaki but he managed to keep himself in check.

Ryoga looked up and saw the looks that they were giving him, "What?"

"Okay who are you and what the hell did you do with Mr. P?" Ranma asked before he was knocked off his stool by a punch in the face, "Hey that hurt! What'd you do that for?!" He yelled at the bandanna boy.

Ryoga smirked, "To prove that I 'am' Ryoga and for calling me that stupid name, you jerk."

Ukyo couldn't help but laugh softly, though she didn't really like that Ryoga had just punched her fiancé and she was getting close to uncover her spatula and whack him on the head with it but she stopped herself from doing so and realized that Ranma should've known better then to call him pig-related names especially after what he's been through, but to see that the boys were just acting like they always do and see that Ryoga's not so depressed over the whole thing gave her quite a bit of relief.

Maybe telling Akane the truth about P-chan did him some good after all, it seems to have lifted a huge weight off of the boys shoulders and spending two months away from Nerima after his confession made him come into realization about his feelings for the Tendo girl. It looked to Ukyo that Ryoga had grown-up and matured a little bit after this whole ordeal. He didn't seem to have that angry energy surrounding him at the moment but that didn't mean that his grudge on Ranma was over, so they'd have to wait and see.

Ryoga's face soften, "I know that it will take some time to earn her trust again, but I only hope that in time she can forgive me and we can still be friends."

Ranma nearly fell over at what his rival had said, a small part of him almost preferred Ryoga to be angry and lash out at him screaming that it was all his fault or something because this new behavior that Ryoga was expelling was almost too much for the Saotome heir to take, but on the other hand he kinda felt relieved that Ryoga wasn't hold him responsible for this. Even though he knew that he was responsible for knocking him into the spring.

He gave his rival a smile, "You know that's the very last thing I'd ever expect to hear you say Ryoga."

"You got a problem with that Saotome?"

"No I'm just saying that I'd never thought I'd hear you say that, that's all." He waited for Ryoga's reply but was relieved when the boy just nodded and said nothing more. He placed the last bite of his food into his mouth and swallowed before turning to the bandanna boy, "Hey you think you're up for a little sparring?"

"With you, anytime Saotome." Ryoga smirked.

Ranma returned the smile and stood up from his chair, "Good because it's been a while since I've had a good spar."

"Gee I wonder why." Ryoga remarked in a sarcastic manner.

"Alright then let's get going. We ain't getting any younger ya know." Ranma said reaching into his pocket and pulled out the amount of money needed to pay for his food, "Thanks for the food Ucchan, see ya later."

"Bye Ukyo." Ryoga called out.

"See you later Ran-chan, take care Ryoga." Ukyo called back and then the two walked out of her restaurant heading towards the Tendo Dojo with Ranma leading the way.


	4. Forgive and Forget

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them.

Warning: Some characters might be O.O.C.

' ' Means thinking.

* * *

Within her room, Akane sat on her bed, clutching her favorite pillow to her chest. When she got home after freeing her mallet from the sidewalk she abused from her little argument with Ranma in the streets, she immediately went straight to her room changed out of her school uniform and into her training gis and went straight to the dojo to work out her anger and frustration. In other words she just broke a lot of cinderblocks and that's it. That was always her solution for venting her anger whenever she was having a bad day, whether it was caused by the boys at school, or by her gender-changing pervert of a fiancé, or if she just wanted to break a few cinderblocks for the hell of it.

After working out her anger caused by today's affairs with Shampoo and her sex-changing fiancé she went back to her room to recalibrate her thoughts, yet for some reason, no matter what she did or how hard she 'trained' it seems like nothing could relinquish the burning anger she felt that began two months ago.

'I still don't believe it… all this time, Ryoga was P-chan! And he never told me! Neither did Ranma!'

Akane couldn't remember being so angry in a long time. How could he have kept such a secret from her without her knowing it? The short-haired Tendo couldn't believe it and she couldn't believe that she didn't see it before. And the fact that her fiancé, her family, and everybody else had known about it all along and didn't tell her made her more angry then any insult Ranma or Shampoo had thrown at her.

Even after Ryoga had explained why he did what he did, it didn't stop Akane from pummeling him into the ground with her mallet. How could she not be angry with him? Not only did he not tell her about his curse in the first place but he waited so long to finally tell her after she started taking him to bed with her.

For some time she'd thought that Ryoga was different from the other boys, the way he was so nice to her, how he was always willing to help her, please her, even beat up Ranma because he had made her angry, now she realized that Ryoga was no better than all the sick-minded perverts in her school, Ranma, and even Happosai put together. Though she suspected something when the Lost-boy would get annoyed with Ranma when ever he made any kind of pig-related joke or something.

Yet a very tiny voice in the back of her mind was nagging at her, telling her that she was being completely unfair on her part, but what did 'it' know?

'Well it doesn't matter anyway.' She assured herself, "If Ryoga knows what's good for him he'll stay lost for another two months or longer, because if I ever see him walking around Nerima or this house I'll pound his face into the ground and make sure he never gets back up." She said.

She discarded her pillow and walked towards her window. Finally she decided to get some fresh air to clear her thoughts when she heard sounds of a fight going on in the Dojo. She immediatly thought it was just Ranma and his father having their usual sparring section in the Dojo.

"Oh good he's home. Now I can give him the pummeling instead." And with that she ran out of her room and towards the Dojo.

* * *

Ranma stood facing his rival since Jr. High in a defensive stance trying to catch his breath, Ryoga stood on the other side of the Dojo in an offence fighting stance looking just as winded as the pigtailed-boy.

Since the two arrived at the Dojo they started out with a practice round then once they were warmed up then they started exchanging punches and kicks. Unlike their usual fights, this was one of those times where the boys would call a temporary truce and just spar with each other like normal teenagers. There was no engagements, no fiancés, no revenge, no nothing, just a good old fashion sparring match between two talented teenage boys.

After a brief second of silence Ryoga dashed towards the Saotome boy and the match resided. Ranma quickly ducked under Ryoga's spinning hook kick and step close to deliver an uppercut punch to Ryoga's chin but the Lost-Boy shifted his stance and blocked his punch with a forearm block, then he quickly repositioned his arm and prepared to deliver a knife-hand strike to Ranma head. In a blink of an eye Ranma leaned back and back flipped away from his rival, while in mid-flip he saw that Ryoga had also back flipped away from him to avoid being kicked by Ranma's legs.

When Ranma landed on his feet he stood ready in a defensive stance waiting for Ryoga to come at him again, but no attacks came from the other boy. The two stood staring at each other, sapphire blue eyes locking onto dark chocolate brown ones, neither moved nor spoke another word, the empty dojo echoed with the sounds of their heavy breathing, sweat dripped from their faces and dropped onto the polished wooden floor in the dojo. Then the two teenagers smiled at the other and eased out of their stances.

Ranma had to admit that he was very impressed with the Lost-Boy because he was fighting with more grace, balance, and control than he had ever seen before. Usually when he and Ryoga would fight, Ryoga would just charge head on into a fight and deliver heavy blows to his opponent which usually ended up with him destroying cement walls and lamp posts with his fists and Ranma had to admit that it really didn't place Ryoga in with one of the more graceful people that he knew of, but now watching the other boy's movements while they sparred made him have to rethink his prior conclusion of his rival.

It was clear to anybody who paid attention to the boys as they fought that Ryoga would fight with anger and while anger can give a person increased strength on the upside, on the downside it can also cause them to be clumsy if they lost their focus while in the grip of the emotion, but in this case he could see no traces of anger in or on the wandering Martial Artist just serenity and control.

Ranma figured that that might be the case with both Ryoga and Akane, but he also admitted to himself that Ryoga had far more control and a lot more grace than Akane does even now.

When it comes to Akane, all he ever sees her do for training now is jogging around town in the early morning and bust up cinderblocks, whereas when he and his father first arrived he would watch her take out the mob of boys just before school started but after the mob decided that she should be happy with her engagement to him, her 'Martial Arts' had been slacking, a lot.

That's probably why he never takes her seriously when she wants him to spar with her. Then again who does?

Ranma stretched his arms over his head, "Now that was a good workout." He said, "We need to have more sparring matches like this more often."

Ryoga couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah I got to admit that was fun. Probably the most fun I've had since…" He paused he couldn't really remember the last time he actually had fun, not recently anyway, "I guess it's been quite a long time since I've actually had any fun." He admitted.

Ranma looked to his rival and miraculously said nothing about the subject. He felt that it was best not to say anything but he knew he should change the subject, "So… I see that you've gotten a little better since the last time we fought. I guess you've been training while you were gone eh?"

"Actually I haven't done any training since I left." He told Ranma, "All I really did was hike all around Japan, thinking about my last visit here, what are my feelings for Akane and what I should do from here on end, nothing special really."

Ranma blinked, "Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me that you didn't do anything except walk around Japan after the beating you took from Akane and think?"

Ryoga nodded, "Yeah pretty much."

Although now that he thought about it he did notice a change in his fighting style during his spar with Ranma, his moves were smoother, stronger and faster. Infact when Ranma used his chestnut-fist attack he could almost see Ranma's oncoming fist each time. He just figured that maybe it's because he wasn't thinking about Akane during the fight or maybe because he wasn't feeling angry just… calm.

"Well it's like I told Ukyo, being lost all the time with no one to talk to, there's not a lot you can do but think. So the last two months had given me a lot of time to think about my relationship with Akane and what I should do from this point on."

Ranma blinked again, 'I wonder if Akane knocked something loose in his head when she hit him with her mallet?' He wondered, "So what are you gonna do now?" He asked curiously.

Ryoga shrugged, "You know I still haven't figured that out yet, but I'm pretty sure that I will, sooner or later." Then he flashed Ranma a smirk, "Though I'm pretty sure that you're very happy that you don't have to worry about P-chan showing up at the dojo ever again. Aren't you?"

Ranma tensed for minute, his first response was to make some crack about how he'll never have to save the Lost-Boy from falling into the Koi pond when ever they sparred again or make excuses to Akane whenever 'P-chan' was missing, but a small wave of guilt washed over him and he fought back the urge to say what his mouth wanted him to say.

"Yeah well… I wouldn't have to worry about it if I had just said what I should've said in the beginning that night." He said muttered.

Ryoga looked confusingly at the pigtailed-boy, he didn't expect that kind of response, "What're you talking about Ranma?"

Ranma took a deep breathe and turned to his long-time rival, "Look Ryoga, I know that I was never always nice to you growing up… and I know that I was always a jerk to you and all but…" He lifted a hand and started rubbing the back of his neck while casting his eyes down to the wooden floor of the Dojo, he was never good at these receptive kinda talks but he knew that he had to do this or else his pride would never let him work up the nerve to it again if he missed this chance. He cleared his throat, "Basically what I'm trying to say is… is that I'm uh… ya know… sorry." He managed to say.

Ryoga blinked at him, "For what?"

Ranma started to fidget, "You know… about everything, the bread feud, Jusenkyo, the spring, the name calling, and the teasing… everything." His deep blue eyes gazed intensely into Ryoga's dark brown eyes, "I'm really sorry."

Ryoga stood like a statue gawking at the pigtailed boy, 'Did I hear right or am I going crazy? Did Ranma just apologize to me?' He pondered on the subject for a minute, then he raised an eyebrow, "So what brought this on Ranma?"

"Huh?"

"This." Ryoga gestured, "What made you decide to apologize to me now? Did Akane bug you so many times about the whole P-chan thing that it finally got to you?"

Ranma was taken aback. Why was Ryoga saying all this for? Here he is trying to apologize to him for everything that's happened and he's being a total jackass. Okay so maybe the Akane bugging him part was part of the reason why he was apologizing but it sure as hell wasn't the main reason. He had always felt bad about pushing Ryoga into the pig cursed spring when he found out that night how Ryoga got it, he just never told the Lost-Boy.

It's not like Ryoga would've believed him even if he did, Ryoga was already mad at him when he had arrived in Nerima and finding out that he was the one who knocked him into the spring made it even worse.

"No it's just… after you left it made me do a lot of thinking." The pigtailed Saotome said, "Like I should've said sorry to you when I found out instead of letting it drag on as it did. Why else do you think I'm saying all this stuff for? You think I'm lying to ya or something?"

"Well it wouldn't be the first time you lied to me about anything Ranma." Ryoga answered.

"What! When have I ever lied to you Ryoga?" Ranma shot back.

Ryoga arched his eyebrows, "You really don't know?" Ranma shook his head, "How bout the first time you used your girl-form to trick me into believing that I had someone who actually liked me in the girls' locker room at the school when we were looking for the Japanese Nannichuan?"

"Uh…"

"Or how bout when you we were trying to get the second pot for the Japanese Nannichuan spring from the dirty old man, you told me you wanted to talk to me about something, then you gave me your 'we're enemies and all but we can still be friends' speech, then you threw me into Koi pond with a pair of panties and then you kicked me into the dirty old man's room with those same panties on my head." Ryoga continued.

Ranma flinched inwardly, "Well… okay uh…"

"Or how bout all those times you used your girl-form to trick me into believing that I had 'a secret admirer', 'a girlfriend', or my personal favorite 'fiancé', just get something from me." Ryoga narrowed his dark brown eyes at the pigtailed-boy, "Like when you and Ukyo followed me and Akane out onto the lake on our first date and when you paired up with Shampoo to steal the waterproof soap from me on my second date with Akane, remember that? Do you want me to continue listing them off because I've got lots more?" He asked sarcastically.

"Okay, okay I get the point!" Ranma shouted, "Alright, I admit that I'm not always that great at telling the truth."

"You picked up on that."

Ranma scowled at the wandering Martial Artist, he was about to retort but held back but a small part of him knew that he deserved that, "Look my point is that I know that I'm not that great at tellin' the truth or admitting when I'm wrong but I ain't lyin' to you now Ryoga. Whether you believe it or not I'm being serious and I really am sorry about everything that's happened. The bread, the spring, this whole mess with Akane, and whatever else I did but can't think of right now cause I've got a bit of a headache."

Ryoga crossed his arms over his chest, "How do I know that what you're telling me is the truth Ranma?"

Ranma shook his head and sighed, "I… I don't know. I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself pal." He told his rival.

Ryoga didn't know what to think, his first thought was that Ranma was trying to trick him into a false sense of security just like he always did whenever he wanted something from him, and he would fall for them every single time so at this point it was really hard to tell if Ranma was being sincere or if he was just pulling his leg. But as he looked into the young Saotomes eyes, he didn't see any false consideration or deride in those ocean blue eyes staring back at him. Ranma was being serious, and the scary thing was, Ryoga believed him or at least he wanted to believe him. Maybe that was all he really wanted from the pigtailed boy all along.

After a long period of utter silence, the Lost-Boy exhaled through his nose, "I… I accept your apology Ranma… and I'm sorry too." He finally said.

"Huh?"

"I said I'm sorry too." Ryoga repeated, "I mean I'm the one who started this whole rivalry from the start, over dumb bread so I'm pretty much to blame for the majority of this mess. Also for blaming you for everything wrong in my life, starting all the stupid fights with you, and everything else I did wrong. Including using my cursed form like I did."

"Well you didn't really start the whole thing and you're not the only one here who's used their cursed form as an advantage." Ranma spoke, referring to himself, his father and Shampoo and sometimes Mousse, "But I've always wanted to know why you got so worked up over the bread in Junior High?"

Ryoga shook his head, "It wasn't about the bread Ranma."

Ranma blinked again, "Well then what was it all about Ryoga? If it wasn't about the bread then why'd you get so mad at me about it?"

"Maybe because you kept using my head as a springboard every time you took the bread from me! Not to mention humiliating me almost daily infront of our classmates!" He spoke, he took a deep calming breath before going on, "You remember what the school was like back then right Ranma?" Ranma nodded, "Well back then, before you showed up, I was always the main target for people to pick on because of my ability to get lost so easily. The kids in our class and the older boys would always tease me, pick on me, and call me names because I couldn't get to where I needed to be without help and the teachers never believed in the whole 'no sense of direction' problem. They all thought I was making it up as though it was a lame excuse to get out of class early or something. In the beginning I tried to not let it bother me but then it came to the point where the older boys would start gaining up on me and then start picking fights with me." He said.

"Didn't any of the teachers ever do anything about that?" Ranma said astounded.

Ryoga chuckled half-heartedly, though there was no humor in his laugh, "Like what?" He asked, half expecting Ranma to answer his question, "It was an all boy school Ranma. The teachers didn't care if the older students roughed up a few younger students or if a fight broke out on the school grounds. As far as they were concerned it was considered boot camp to toughen up pampered little boys and turn them into men."

"You got a point there." Ranma said rubbing the back of his neck, then he looked thoughtful for a moment, 'I wonder if that's the reason why Pop insisted that I attended an all boys' school instead of a regular school?' He wondered, "So… what happened?"

"What else?" Ryoga shrugged, "When it got serious, I fought back. When a couple of eighth graders would corner me in the school yard, they would start with the name calling, then they would start pushing and tripping me and then when the leader would get ready to land a punch on me, I would fight back. I'd sent more then half of the student population to the nurse's office during my whole seventh grade year, most of them being eighth graders. I don't think they ever told any of the teachers about what happened. Why would they? Who would ever believe that a little seventh grader beat up a whole eighth grade class all by himself? If the teachers knew about it they never did anything, not to my knowledge anyway." The Bandanna boy lowered his eyes to the ground, "By the time I reached the eighth grade the teasing and name calling had stopped except that now everyone was afraid of me and that was worse then being picked on. Whenever I would try to talk to them they would run away from me screaming 'Ahh please don't hurt me!' or 'Stay away from us you freak!'. I never wanted them to be afraid of me, I just wanted the teasing to stop. I was left alone but that's all I ever was. Of course that all changed when you showed up."

Ranma looked confused, "What'd I do?" Ryoga gave him a look that told him the answer, "Oh yeah… the whole bread thing." He said with guilt.

Ranma remembered Ryoga being awfully quiet and withdrawn, rarely speaking to anyone or hanging out with any of their classmates, and often a target for constant teasing. But for some reason the other kids made sure to whisper their taunts when Ryoga was nearby instead of saying them to his face and Ranma couldn't figure out why. He had asked their classmates why no one hung out with the Hibiki boy and was astounded when the other boys told him that it's because everyone was scared shitless of him and told him why. He automatically assumed that Ryoga was a bully and was using his martial arts to push people around, but he quickly threw the thought out of his mind when he saw Ryoga effortlessly take out three of their classmates that were pushing him around. He also remembered that it was Ryoga's strength and agility that drew his attention in the first place, but he also remembered that after the first few encounters with the bread at lunch time he was amongst the students who would often tease the Lost-Boy and Ryoga walking away crying bitterly.

Only now did he realize that as soon as their classmates saw that Ranma had taken out the Lost-boy with ease that they stopped being afraid and joined him in taunting the directionless boy. Geez, No wonder Ryoga hated him so much, for Ranma had become no better than their classmates.

"Well I guess you've been right all along huh?"

"About what?"

"About me making your life a living hell."

"No actually I said 'because of you I've **seen** hell' not 'you've made my life hell' there's a difference. And besides I think it was Ukyo who said that." Ryoga grinned.

Ranma raised an eyebrow, "How the hell do you know that?"

"I asked her and she told me after we first met."

"Oh."

For the first time since they met in Junior High Ranma and Ryoga shared a laugh together, not a mocking laughter or a self-confident chuckle but a good-hearted humorous laugh.

Ranma took a deep breath and faced the other martial artist, "So I guess this means we're even eh? I gave you hell and in return you gave me hell, and we both apologized to each other… so uh… we're even right?"

Ryoga was silent, was he really ready to let go of the past? He'd already said that he'd forgiven Ranma for everything and there was no more reason to fight with him over Akane… He looked at Ranma for what seemed like an eternity and then he smiled a little. Yes, he was ready to let go of his vengeance for the pigtailed Saotome and move on with his life, there was just one thing that he and Ranma had to do first.

"Yeah we're even Ranma but there's still something that I need to do before I do anything else."

Ranma wasn't sure if he was going to like this but his curiosity got the best of him, "What's that?"

Ryoga gave a fanged smile, "I want us to have an all-out sparring match, just you and me with no interferences. Just like the fight that was supposed to take place a long time ago in the vacant lot."

"Somehow I knew that was coming." Ranma murmured, "You're never going to let that go are you Ryoga?"

Ryoga shrugged, "Probably not."

Ranma couldn't help but smile back, "Alright, just tell me where and when you want it, so I can prepare myself for when the time comes and kick your bacon butt."

"And out comes the famous pig jokes." Ryoga joked, "Well I haven't decided yet but I'll be sure to let you know when I do 'Ranko'. Deal?"

Ranma chuckled, he was happy to see that Ryoga was back to his old self, well just minus the vengeance driven anger and heavy depression aura that always surrounded the Lost-Boy, he held out his hand to his rival, "Deal." Ryoga took hold of Ranma's hand and shook it, "Oh and by the way, I forgive you too."

"Then that means we're cool now huh?"

Ranma nodded, "Frosty." He said, "C'mon let's go see if Kasumi's got dinner ready yet."

"I don't think that's a good idea?" Ryoga asked looking unsure, "I mean I'm pretty sure that Akane is still mad at me."

Ranma scoffed, "She'll just have to get over it, besides you already know that she's got a nasty temper."

"Hey don't go bad mouthing Akane like that." Ryoga warned.

"I thought you were over her."

"I am but that still doesn't mean that I'm gonna let you talk bad about her like that."

"Oh yeah, what're you gonna do about it P-chan?" Ranma asked while heading out of the Dojo and into the yard.

Ryoga was right on his heels, "You'll find out soon enough Ranko."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a small city far from Japan, a middle-aged woman placed the last item of clothing into her bag before zipping it closed. She turned to see if she had forgotten anything in the hotel room she had been staying in, when she saw nothing in the room that was hers she picked up a yellow envelope with her name on it and placed it in an outer pocket of her bag then zipped it close. She shouldered her bag and walked out the door. The woman was dressed emerald green formal kimono with a gold shimmering red sash tied around her waist, her long dark hair was tied back in a thick braid which tumbled down her back and reached her backside. She was around her late thirties but she had the appearance of a woman in her mid twenties. She walked towards the front desk of the hotel and handed the man there her room key.

The man at the counter stared at the dark-haired woman for a moment, he had been admiring her since she first arrived a few days ago and had developed a crush on her. He was in his mid forties, clean-cut, average build, nice looking guy but had bad luck with picking women.

"So uhh… where're you heading now Ms. Kira…"

Kira looked up at the man at the counter, she knew that he had been watching her since she got there but she had been ignoring him until now, he wasn't really her type.

Not wanting to be rude she smiled, "I'm heading back to Tokyo. I'm meeting someone there."

The smile on the mans face faltered a bit at her last statement, but tried not to look surprised, "Tokyo eh? That's a pretty long way from home ain't it?"

"I suppose so."

"How're you gonna get there? Last I checked all the flights to Japan were all booked." He said.

'Makes me wonder how you found that out?' Kira thought sarcastically, "I know but I have my own special way of getting there."

The man looked dumb-founded but quickly shook his head, "So… uhh who's this person you're meeting in Tokyo? Your husband?" He asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Kira shook her head, "Oh no, I haven't seen him in nearly seventeen years." She said with hardly any emotion in her voice. She noticed that the man's eyes were shining with renewed hope but she paid no heed to it, "Actually I'm meeting my son there."

"Your… son?" He said drearily, she nodded, "Well then… have a pleasant trip home and have a nice day." He said forcing a smile onto his face.

Kira nodded, "Thank you and you too." She said politely and walked out of the building.

* * *

Trunks grumbled in his seat in the car as he waited for his parents to stop bickering with one another. Actually it was more like his mother telling his father about where they should go now and his father saying no. He looked over at Goten and saw him standing with his big brother Gohan while their parents and his parents tried to figure out directions.

'Ugh, this it taking so long. Why can't we just fly to where we need to go? It'd be a lot faster and easier to get there rather then waist time driving and asking for stupid directions.' He wondered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the dragon-radar, after double checking to see that his parents were occupied he clicked it on and checked the screen. The radar beeped once then beeped steadily. 'I wonder if that guy has finally stopped moving.' He clicked the radar twice than the radar showed a blinking dot on the monitor. According to the monitor the blinking indicating a dragonball was only a few miles away from where they were right now.

'Looks like he's finally stopped but now the question is how am I gonna find him without letting mom and dad know?' Trunks wondered to himself, then a thought came to him, 'Wait a minute, that guy said he was looking for a town somewhere. What did he call it… Norma? Neriena… no. Something…ma. Augh! What was it!'

"C'mon Vegetta we have to at least see one of these places." Bulma tried to reason but her husband was being as stubborn as ever.

"And I say that it's waste of time. I don't even know why I let you talk me into this vacation plan of yours anyway."

Bulma groaned resisting the urge to slap her forehead, "I already told you, it's because there is no threat to the earth anymore, no evil androids, no hostile aliens trying to destroy the world. It's the perfect time to relax and take a vacation. Don't Saiyans ever take vacations?"

"Why would a Saiyan warrior like me waste his energy lazing about on a vacation, when I should be in the gravity chamber training?"

"Hey what am I chopped liver?" Goku spoke.

"Didn't I just explain why?" Bulma groaned, "Look Vegetta, it's only for a few weeks. Can't you at least try to have a good time and not think about fighting in that period amount of time? After this trip is over you can go back into the gravity chamber room and train to your hearts desire." She tried to reason.

"I plan on doing that any way." The Saiyan Prince muttered under his breath, "Alright, alright I'll do it, but don't expect a lot from me Bulma."

Bulma smiled, she expected that her head-strong husband would say that but at least it was better than nothing, "Thank-you honey." She said sweetly, earning her a grunt from her husband.

Chi-Chi just shook her head, "I'll never understand how she's able to put up with a man like Vegetta for so long."

"Must be something about him that she loves so much, otherwise she never would've married him in the first." Goku said.

"I heard that Kakarrot." Vegetta said glaring at the other Saiyan.

Chi-Chi gave a nod before looking at the map again, she studied the map for a moment while tracing her finger along with the closest roads around where they were to where the nearest town was until she stopped on a certain spot, "How about here? This looks like a nice little town."

Everyone gathered around to see the spot Chi-Chi was referring to, Bulma made a face, "I don't know. I've heard a lot of rumors coming out of that place."

"Like what Bulma?" Goku asked curiosity lingering in his voice.

"Like how the place is crawling with crazy people from all over the place." She explained.

Vegetta scoffed, "So's Center City, so what's your point?"

"Don't you mean 'Satan' City Vegetta?" Goku asked.

"Whatever." Said Vegetta, "My point is Center City is where the Androids, Cell and Majin Buu first attacked before anything else, so makes this puny little town any different?"

"We're supposed to be relaxing on our vacation, not looking for fights." Chi-Chi explained.

Vegetta smirked, "Fighting is relaxing to a Saiyan."

Before Chi-Chi could say anything Goku thought now would a good time to step in, "You know Chi-Chi, I heard that this place has a lot of great shopping places, as well as some really great food." He said with an all-too-happy smile.

"Don't you ever think of anything but your stomach Kakarrot?" Vegetta asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"Not as much as you think about fighting." Goku simply answered before turning to their wives, "C'mon you guys I'll bet that it'll be a lot of fun, not just for us but for the boys as well."

The women looked to each other for a while, then Bulma nodded, "Alright we'll go, but no fighting, no causing a scene, and most importantly no Saiyan stuff. Is that clear?" She told them sternly.

Not wanting to argue with their wives, the two Saiyans nodded. After circling the next town and figuring out which road they would have to take for their new destination, the two families piled in their cars and headed north.

* * *

Akane made her way into the living room after checking the Dojo. When she got to the Dojo no one was there. But how could she have missed Ranma walking out of the Dojo without her noticing him? She then decided that didn't want to go looking for Ranma, why would she? Besides she knew that dinner was almost ready, so there was a very good chance that he was already in the house, she'll just punish him there.

When she walked into the living room she saw her father and Mr. Saotome playing a game of Go, her sister Nabiki doing something with her calculator and Ranma watching TV with… Ryoga?

Sure enough the Lost-boy was sitting in her living room next to Ranma watching television and the two of them weren't fighting. Sensing a set of eyes on him Ryoga looked over his shoulder and spotted her staring at him. If this was any other day Ryoga would be overwhelmed with tension at the sight of Akane, especially after the whole 'P-chan' thing, but now he only felt a little of the familiar tension.

All eyes in the room were focused on Akane and Ryoga, "Hi Akane." He said politely.

Finally Akane couldn't hold back her anger, "What the hell are you doing here?" She snapped.

"He's sitting here watching television. What's it look like he's doing?" Ranma answered before Ryoga could say anything.

Akane glared at the pigtailed-boy, "I wasn't talking to you you jerk! I was talking to him!" She pointed to Ryoga, then she returned her gaze to the Lost-boy, "So what're you doing here?"

"I've invited him to stay for dinner Akane." Kasumi spoke walking into the living room having heard her little sister's bellowing.

Akane looked from Kasumi to Ryoga to back to her sister again, looking bewildered by her sister's statement, "You… invited him to stay… for dinner?" Kasumi nodded, "Kasumi why would you invite… that… that pig... to stay at our house? Don't you remember what he did while he was here? What he did to me!"

Kasumi nodded, "Yes Akane I know what he did, and I also know that he didn't mean to hurt you and that he's very sorry that it happened."

Akane and everyone else were taken aback, "Kasumi… you're… you're defending him!" She shrieked.

"Yes Akane, I am." Kasumi spoke calmly but there was firmness in her voice that she only used when trying to get through to her stubborn younger sister, "I understand that you're angry with Ryoga for not telling you, but the matter of fact is that he 'did' tell you the truth and he also told you how sorry he was about the whole thing."

"But he…"

"I'm not going to argue with you about this Akane." Kasumi said firmly, "Ryoga made a mistake, he told you the truth, he told you that he was sorry, and you've already swung your fists at him already."

"Not hard enough." Akane muttered under her breath.

Kasumi then frowned at her sister, "The point is, is that I'm not going to allow you to cause more damage and harm than what you've already caused before. It's over and done with."

"Cause more damage?" Akane repeated, "Kasumi I didn't cause any…"

"Akane!"

The tone in Kasumi's voice made Akane go mute, never before had she seen her sister act this way nor use that icy tone in her voice before. She knew that it would be useless to argue with Kasumi, but she couldn't believe that her own big sister had just defended Ryoga like that and talked to her like that. Like a mother talking to a spoiled child who had just thrown a temper tantrum.

Finally she shot an angry glare at Ryoga, gave him the finger while shouting, "Perverted Pig!" And then stomped out of the room.

The anger-infused words stung like a hard slap to the face, but Ryoga knew that he deserved it. And he knew in his soul that she'll never forgive him anytime soon. Yet knowing this didn't help him feel better.

A few minutes passed which felt like hours, no one had spoken for that amount of time, Kasumi turned to Ryoga and saw the pained sadness in his eyes. She also saw remorse in those dark brown eyes, she gave him her traditional sweet smile though she couldn't hide the sympathy that came with it, "Ryoga I'm very sorry about Akane's behavior. Apparently she's still having some anger issues with you."

"Gee ya think Kasumi." Nabiki spoke monotony.

Ryoga gave a sad smile, "That's okay Kasumi, I figured that she was still mad at me."

"If you knew then why'd you bother to come back?" Nabiki asked not looking up from her calculating, "If you knew what was good for you then you should've stayed lost."

"Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded but as usual the middle Tendo paid no heed to her sister's words.

"I'm just saying that if Ryoga was smart then he should've stayed lost to avoid Akane pummeling him with her mallet and costing us money for the repairs." Nabiki said casually.

"That's enough Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded again.

"Wow Nabiki, I just realized what it'd be like to be married to you and I have to say that I feel sorry for the poor guy who ends up marrying you." Ranma spoke.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, "You should be feeling sorry to all the girls you're engaged to, because not only will one of them be stuck with you for a husband but the other poor unlucky ones you dump will be heartbroken and hell bent on revenge." She said smugly.

"I wouldn't have so many fiancé's if a certain stupid old man hadn't made so many damn promises to every family he ran into." Ranma muttered.

Genma lifted his head from the board, "You say something boy?"

"Nothing old man."

"Oh I almost forgot." Kasumi spoke reaching into her apron and pulled out an envelope, "Ryoga this letter came for you today in the mail." She said holding out the envelope to the Lost-Boy.

"For me?" Ryoga said surprised as he accepted the letter from Kasumi.

Nabiki looked up at Ryoga from her calculating, "That's going on your bill by the way."

Ryoga looked up at her in shock, "My bill?"

Nabiki nodded calmly, "That's right Pig-boy, you bill consists of the food that we've fed you, the hot water you've used for your baths for the times you were here, property damage, the amount of electricity you used while here, the amount of times you've used the Dojo, and the number of times you've slept here. Human and pig." She grinned.

Ryoga glared at Nabiki but she paid no heed to his glaring eyes because she knew that he can't do anything to her. Both he and Ranma had always hated that smug smile Nabiki used all the time, because it usually meant that she could charge you for even the stupidest thing and use any kind of blackmail she had on you to pay her and she would get away with it. Sometimes they both secretly wish that Nabiki was a guy so that they could have an excuse to punch her.

Ryoga narrowed his eyes at the middle Tendo, "Since when the hell did you start charging me Nabiki?"

Nabiki's smile grew wider, "Since you deliberately signed a death wish two months ago when you told Akane that you were P-chan. And since it looks like that Akane is still upset with you, I have a feeling that I'm gonna have a big payment very, very soon." She said punching a few more buttons on her calculator.

"Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded at her sister in disbelief.

Before Nabiki could answer her sister, her calculator started to fizzle then it burst in half at the seams with a loud crack. Everyone jumped backwards in shocked surprise, Nabiki yelped as she dropped her dropped her destroyed calculator, her fingers on her right hand were singed from the heat radiating from her calculator when it broke all of a sudden. The broken pieces of the little pocket machine sat on the dining table, smoke was emitting off the burned out wires inside the plastic shells.

"What the hell was that?" Ranma spoke breaking the heavy silence in the room.

"You got me." Ryoga answered.

Kasumi turned to Nabiki who was clutching her badly burnt hand, "Nabiki are you alright?"

Nabiki shook her hand trying to wave off the pain, "Yeah I'm fine." Then she gazed at the broken pieces of her calculator, "I don't believe it, that was a brand new calculator. I just got it today and now it's broken. And it cost a pretty penny too." She moaned softly.

Kasumi gently took Nabiki's injured hand and examined it, "Nabiki your hand is burned. C'mon you need to put some ice on it and a bandage." She said pulling her sister into the kitchen with her.

"No really sis, it's nothing…" Nabiki tried to reason while being dragged by her persistent sister with their father and Genma following behind them.

"What'd you think caused that to happen?" Ryoga asked.

Ranma shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe her karma has finally caught up with her for all her blackmailing and gold digging." He snickered.

"I just hope the same doesn't happen to us."

"Knowing my luck it probably will." Ranma muttered, "So who sent the letter?"

"Oh yeah." Ryoga turned over the envelope and read the address in the top corner next to his name. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he read the name of who sent it.

"Well who's it from?" Ranma asked again when Ryoga didn't answer.

"It's… from my mom." Ryoga answered holding the letter with trembling hands.

* * *

A.N. Sorry for the long wait for an update. Had a case of writers block, plus my best friend just got married and I've been on vacation in Florida. Here's chapter 4, I hope you all like it.


	5. Goodbye Pchan, Hello Ryogachan?

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them.

Warning: Some characters might be O.O.C.

' ' Means thinking.

* * *

Ryoga sat on top of the Tendo's roof watching the sunset. The sky was a canvas of rosy red mixed with orange tinted yellow light and dark blue and lilac clouds. He would never admit it to anyone but he just loved watching the sunset, it always filled him with a sense of peace that he could never find anywhere else but at this point of the day.

Dinner had been nicer than he thought, considering the fact that Akane had been giving him death glares throughout the entire meal, Ranma and his father had started a fight that considered stealing food from one another, and Nabiki had been complaining the whole time about having to use her other hand to eat since her right hand was incased in a bandage.

No one could figure out what had happened that caused her calculator to explode like it did.

Ryoga could tell all through dinner that Akane was itching to lift something heavy, like the dining table or one of her infamous mallets, and clobber him on the head with it. Especially when Kasumi invited him to stay the night, with no charge. When Kasumi said 'No charge' she was looking directly at Nabiki, who no doubt was mentally adding that to his so-called bill, with a look that said 'if you say something then you and I will have problems later' which ended with Nabiki giving a grunted humph as an answer. Which was why he didn't stay in the room long enough after he had excused himself. He'd tried to refuse the kind offer politely but Kasumi insisted that he'd stay with them for tonight and that it was no trouble. Plus he really couldn't say no to Kasumi, infact no one could.

However that didn't stop Akane from issuing a threat towards Ryoga that if he was caught anywhere near her bedroom as a pig or human then she would turn him into pork chops, once that was said she stormed off to her room to change into her workout clothes then headed to the Dojo.

Ryoga shook his head, 'Geez I never thought I'd hear myself say this but I'm beginning to understand how Ranma feels whenever Akane's mad at him.' He thought then he sighed. Then after making absolutely sure that he was alone, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his mother's letter and began reading it for the fifth time that evening, it read…

_Dear Ryoga,_

_I hope this letter finds you well and I hope that you're doing well also. I'm here in a small town next to a place called 'Satan City' and I won another All Women's Martial Arts Tournament. Don't ask me about why it's named 'Satan City' because I couldn't tell you even if I knew. It's a nice looking place even if it does have a strange name. Anyways, I put some money into your account incase you need it for something. How are Checkers and the pups doing? Did you remember to mail in your papers for this week?_

_I just wanted to let you know that I'll be back in Nerima this Friday before your birthday. I have something really important that I need to tell you so try your best to stay in Nerima for the time being, okay sweetie._

_I still can't believe that you'll be seventeen in just a few more days, it feels like only yesterday when you were little and I could hold you in my arms, in those days I hoped that you'd stay my little boy forever. Now you've grown up and became a handsome young man, my how time flys. _

_I miss you so much that it hurts everytime when I'm away from you, I can't wait to see you, my little Ryo-chan. _

_See you soon, Lot's of love, Mom._

He rechecked the date up in the corner of the letter, the letter was sent four days ago.

A genuine smile spread on Ryoga's face. It didn't matter if they were apart or together, his mother and her letters always brought a smile to his face, but now he had a whole other reason to be happy. His mother was coming home for his birthday which wouldn't be long now, and that was the best birthday gift he could ever ask for. Well that and a cure for his Jusenkyo curse as well as a cure for his directional curse. Although he was a little curious as to what his mother meant in the letter when she said that she had something important to tell him.

"I wonder what it could be that's so important?" He wondered to himself then shrugged.

"I thought I'd find you here." Ranma's voice spoke from behind the Lost-Boy.

Ryoga smirked, "Where else would I be?" He asked but lifted his hand before Ranma had a chance to answer, "Never mind, forget I asked."

"What, I wasn't gonna say anything." Ranma said defensively.

"Sure you weren't. So why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to make sure that you hadn't wandered off and gotten lost again." Ranma answered, "That and I needed to get away from Akane before she vents her anger on me like she always does."

"I told you that it was a bad idea for me to come here while she's still mad at me, and I think Kasumi made it even worse when she stood up for me against her and invited me to stay for the night."

"Yeah well lucky for you Akane would never strike at her sister like she does with me." Ranma said with a smile as he took a seat next to the Lost Boy, "So what's your mom say?"

Ryoga carefully folded his mother's letter, "Nothing much except that she's coming home this Friday and that she wants me to make sure that I stay in Nerima till she gets here." He smiled.

"Really?" Ranma said, "What's the occasion?"

"Nothing." Ryoga answered a little too quickly, "We… we haven't seen each other for a while and she just wants me to make sure that I stay in Nerima." He said.

"Oh okay." Ranma told him, then in the blink of an eye he snatched the letter out of Ryoga's hand.

"Hey!"

Ranma read the letter as fast as he could before Ryoga could snatch it away from him, when he finished he looked back at the Lost-boy with a mischievous smirk, "Oho so that's the reason then, eh little Ryo-chan?"

"Hey gimme that back Ranma." Ryoga said trying to reach for the letter again but Ranma pulled it out his reach, "C'mon that's mine, give it back."

"So when were you gonna tell somebody that your birthday was coming up?" Ranma teased, his smile not leaving his face.

Ryoga's cheeks became flushed, "I… I uh…"

Ryoga hadn't really thought about telling anybody that his birthday was coming soon, he personally didn't think that he needed to. He'd only celebrate it with his mother because he didn't have any other family other than her and he hardly had any friends growing up as a kid, actually he didn't really think that he had any at all. Well… maybe Ukyo counted as one and Ranma counted as another, though he was still working that one out.

Finally Ryoga retrieved his mother's letter from Ranma and placed it in his pocket, "It didn't really occur to me at the time that I had to. Plus it's really not a big deal that I'm turning a year older, so why bother?"

"Why bother? Are you telling me that you've never had a birthday party with lots of presents and a birthday cake, with friends and family gathered together to celebrate?" Ranma asked.

Ryoga's hands clenched into fists and shook his head, "Look I'm just not that crazy about parties, that's all. I just rather have a nice meal on my birthday and that's it. Okay? I really don't care about presents and I'm not that crazy on sweets either."

Ranma didn't look convinced, he could tell that Ryoga wasn't telling him the real reason why he hadn't said anything to anyone about his birthday coming up. No, there was something else wasn't there? Of course there was, this was Ryoga he was talking about. The guy whom Ranma could read like a book at times, but there were times where he couldn't figure out what was wrong with Ryoga when he had that look. A look that Ranma knew when something was wrong with the Lost-boy. He decided for now to drop the subject, but he would find out what was wrong later.

"What is today anyway?"

"Thursday." Ranma said, "So in other words your mom will probably be here in about a week right?" He asked, then he realized what he had just said and cursed himself for saying it, he waited for Ryoga to lunge at him or yell at him or something, but the Lost-boy shook his head.

"Not really, my mom doesn't have near as much trouble getting around as I do." Ryoga said, "She does get lost but not as bad as I do."

"Really?" Ranma asked.

Ryoga nodded, "Yeah, it's kinda weird now that I think about it." Then he shrugged.

"That's great to hear man. I haven't seen your mom since we were in Junior High." Ranma said sounding happy for his rival though he couldn't help but feel a little envious. He didn't know how long it'll be before he'd be able to see his own mother without having to worry about the sharp blade of her katana taking his head off, "So Ryoga, does your mom know about… well uhh… does she know about... the little P-chan thing?"

"Yeah she does."

"She does!?" Ranma repeated in shock. He couldn't beleive it what he'd just heard, "You mean you told her?"

"Not exactly." Ryoga said sheepishly.

"Then how did she..." Ranma paused for a moment, "She found out by accident didn't she?" Ryoga nodded, his face turning red in embarrasment, "How?"

Ryoga cleared his throat before answering, "This was a while back, when I was wandering all over Japan looking for Furinkan High School, looking for you." He muttered, "It was a week after our first fight at the school, after Akane's... unschedueled haircut treatment." He said shamefully. He always felt bad that it was his belt-sword technique that caused Akane to lose a large chunk of her hair that day.

"Hey don't sweat it Ryoga. Akane only grew her hair out to impress Dr. Tofu but he said that she looks better with it short, so she kept it." The pigtailed Saotome said trying to ease the Hibiki boy's guilt, 'And plus it was her own fault for butting into our fight in the first place.' He thought to himself.

"It still shouldn't have happened though." Ryoga said before continuing with his story, "Anyways when I found my way back to Nerima it was raining but I managed to get my umbrella out before the rain hit, but I didn't count on a passing car kicking up water from the street as he drove by."

"I hate it when that happens." Ranma nodded, "You'd think that the drivers would have the common courtesy to slow down when theirs people walking on the side of the road when it's raining."

"Yeah you'd think. But what's funny is that I was standing infront of my house when it happened and I didn't realize it until afterwards." Ryoga chuckled, "Thankfully my dog Checkers recognized me even as a pig and brought me, my backpack and clothes into the hous. And for the record it's not easy lugging a heavy backpack with a heavy umbrella when you're half a foot tall, have no hands, everything's wet and heavy, and you have to use your mouth to do everything."

Ranma had nothing to say on the subject. Though he often complained about how much of a pain his own curse was, he couldn't imagine how difficult it must be for the others who turn into small animals. To be no more than a foot tall, not being able to talk, your hands are useless cause you now have wings, paws, or hooves, and to be taken by crazy people who want to either eat you or keep you as a pet. He shuddered, he didn't even want to think about it. Just thinking about it made him actually glad that he changes into a girl instead of an animal. Though he sometimes hated his curse, at least he's still human.

"So what happened then?"

"Well when I got into the house apparently my mom was home at the moment because there was a kettle of water heating on the stove. I figured that it was a perfect chance for me to change back really quick. Unfortunately when I did, Mom was standing right behind me and she saw the whole thing. And being naked in the kitchen didn't help either." Ryoga's cheeks flushed red.

Ranma looked at his rival with large shock-filled eyes, "So uhh... how'd she take it?"

"Pretty well actually. Of course she was shocked beyond belief when I explained how this happened but other then that she took it well."

"When you say that you told your mom what happened, what did you tell her?" Ranma asked looking uneasy, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to hear the answer cause he was sure that Ryoga told his mother that **he** was the one who knocked him in the Spring.

"I told her exactly how it happened, that while looking over the training grounds of Jusenkyo looking for you, a giant crazy panda caught me off guard and then a crazy girl knocked me off the cliff and I fell into one of the springs."

This caused Ranma to blink in surprise, "That's it?" Ryoga nodded, "You didn't tell her that it was... me?"

Ryoga shook his head, "At the time I didn't know that it was really you. Not until later that night."

"Oh." Was Ranma's only reply, "So uh... did you..."

"No Ranma I didn't tell her that that 'crazy girl' was you. And I'm not going to. So you can quit worrying."

"Worried? Me? Who said anything bout me bein worried? I ain't worried bout anything."

This made Ryoga chuckle softly, "If you say so Ranma."

"So what about your dad? Does he know?"

Ryoga paused for a second then shook his head, "I don't have a dad."

Ranma blinked, "What? C'mon man, you gotta have a dad. Who else would teach a guy like you Martial Arts? I mean, don't he live with you and your mom or is he dead or what?"

Ryoga shook his head again, "No, and I know that I have a dad but I don't really know him. Hell as far as my mom's concerned, he doesn't even know that I exist."

Ranma was completely taken aback by the reply, "What'd you mean he doesn't even know that you exist?"

"Just as I said." Ryoga said, "My mom said that when she and my 'father' were together everything was great from the start, even though times were bad. They started out as best friends when they were kids and then as they got older they fell in love and became... something more." He said while blushing but then the blush was gone as quickly as it came, "But then later something happened and then they separated. She said that it happened before she found out that she was pregnant with me but she didn't tell him about it."

"Why not?" Ranma asked.

"She said that it would've caused more problems, not just for them but mostly for her." He shook his head, "Don't ask me what that means cause I don't even know what that means. Anyways after they separated, my mom moved far away from my dad because she didn't want him or any part of her old life in her life anymore, much less in mine."

"Didn't you ever ask about him?" Ranma asked.

Ryoga nodded, "Of course I did. I've asked her a lot of times when I was a kid. She told me that everything was fine at first, that they loved each other very much, but then something happened and he broke her heart and she left and never went back."

"Wait I don't get it. You're telling me that your parents, who'd known one another since they were kids, fell in love and then just broke up? Just like that?" Ryoga nodded, "C'mon Ryoga, even I don't buy that crock of crap. What happened, was he unfaithful to her?"

Ryoga shook his head, "No. Mom says he would never do that to her. I know that sounds weird but she knows for a fact that he'd never betray her like that."

Ranma nodded an 'okay' before continueing, "Okay uhh... then I guess that means that she wasn't..."

"Hey, watch what you say about my mother Saotome." Ryoga warned.

Ranma held up his hands, "Whoa easy Ryoga, I wasn't gonna say anything."

"Better not." Ryoga muttered.

"But if that wasn't the case, then what made them break up?"

"I don't really know the full story Ranma. My mom doesn't like to talk it or about her past because it brings her alot of pain. So I stopped asking her." Then he smiled, "As for my Martial Arts… well I'm happy to say that she's been the one teaching me for as long as I can remember. She taught me everything I know… well except the breaking point."

Ranma nodded, "So your mom taught you Martial Arts?" He said in awe.

"Well yeah, who says that a woman can't teach a guy Martial Arts?" Ryoga asked. Ranma shifted uncomfortably beside him as though he was trying really hard not to answer the question, Ryoga was aware of the pigtailed-boys struggle and cleared his throat, "Actually my mom wasn't really comfortable with me learning Martial Arts when I said that I wanted to learn."

"Why not?"

Ryoga shrugged, "She thought that it was too dangerous for a boy like me and that I would hurt myself." He heard Ranma snickering, "Hey my mom's very protective over me okay." He defended but when Ranma continued to laugh, Ryoga punched him on the shoulder.

Ranma finally regained himself and took a deep breath, "Hey I'm sorry man… but it's just so funny that your mom would think that… considering what me and everyone has seen you do." He said wiping his eyes, "So what made her change her mind?"

"When she saw that I have a real talent for the Art and that no matter what, I was going to learn because I wanted to." Ryoga said, "So she began teaching me, mostly the basics ya know blocking, attacking, breathing, discipline, that kinda stuff. Then she taught me stuff that she had learned from my grandpas, my dad, and from one of her teachers. Everything else I've learned from Shampoo's grandma or from other people from my travels and adapted them to make them work for me."

"I can relate to that. So did your mom teach you Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics by any chance?" Ranma asked but he was unable to hide the curiosity in his voice.

Ryoga's cheeks flushed, "No… uh actually I learned that by watching her practicing it when I was little. When she would practice at home I would watch her from the sides all the time and I memorized the moves."

Ranma nodded, he knew all to well about that. When Ryoga taught Akane Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics he had also memorized the steps and tactics just by watching them practice and by watching what not-to-do when Akane couldn't get the steps right and broke most of the tools. Good thing too cause it helped him defeat Kodachi when he had to fill in for Akane when she hurt herself. He shuddered at the memory, having to face that nut-case Kodachi was bad enough but having to do it while as a girl, in a pink leotard, was just plain awful.

* * *

Later that evening in his guestroom at the Tendo household, Happosai double checked the door to make sure that it was locked then he check the windows for the third time, to make sure that no one was peering in or could hear him from inside. It's true that no one in the house really cared about what he did in his room but he didn't want to take any chances. Finally after making sure that he was completely alone and that no one could hear or see him by any means, he went to his closet and pulled out a brown box that was about his size.

"Now then." He said to no one in particular.

He took the box to his futon and sat there staring at the address up in the corner. The address was written in Chinese which was how he preferred it, he didn't want anyone to know who sent it or where it came from in particular, and he was very glad to know that everybody in this house, even Nabiki, still couldn't read Chinese. But there was one paragraph on the address that caught and kept his eyes the whole time since Kasumi had told him that he got a package in the mail.

His withered lips curled into a smile, "Soon Ranma, you and your girl side will be all mine." He snickered evilly. Now all he had to do was wait till everybody had gone to bed, then he would carry out his plan.

* * *

Trunks was not a happy camper. He had been twitching all day yesterday and today and couldn't stop twitching. His family and the Son Family had decided to rest for the night and continue there trip tomorrow. Thank God his mother brought her dino-caps along and that one of them converted into a house, the bad part was that they had to find a secluded forest just to use it. It sure beats staying in a clustered motel for the night.

It was two in the morning and his parents and the Son's were fast asleep while he laid wide awake in his bed. He looked around the room for a third time to make sure that Gohan and Goten were really asleep before crawling out of his bed and tip-toeing over to his pack, there he pulled out the dragon-radar. He carefully clicked it on and the room was faintly illuminated in pale green light, on the radars screen he could see three blinking dots but his blue eyes were focused on the closest blinking dot that he had been tracking for two days now.

'That guy with a dragonball is not far from here now. Now I just need to find him and get him to hand over the dragonball.'

"What'cha doin Trunks?" A small tired voice whispered from behind.

Trunks let out a squeaked yelp before clamping one hand over his mouth, he turned to see Goten standing behind still half-asleep. He grunted angrily, "What're you trying to do Goten, give me a heart attack?" He hissed quietly through clenched teeth.

Goten yawned, "Sorry. I was sleeping until a beeping sound woke me up and when I opened my eyes I saw you crouching by your pack."

Trunks took a glance at where Goten's older brother was sleeping, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the teen was still asleep, before turning back to his friend, "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to check on something. Remember that guy that we met in that last town, the guy with the strong energy and the dragonball?" Goten nodded, "Well I think I may know where he is now." He said proudly showing Goten the dragon-radar, "He's not far from here, I figure that if we're quiet we could sneak out and go find him."

Goten rubbed his eyes before glancing down at the dragon-radar, he stared at it for a while then he yawned again, "Can't it wait till morning Trunks?" Goten asked.

"Goten we're so close to catching up with this guy and collecting the first dragonball. We need to find him before he takes off again."

"But Trunks even if we do find this guy, how are we gonna convince him into letting us have the dragonball?"

Trunks blinked, he hadn't thought of that. How were they going to get the dragonball from the wandering Martial Artist without causing a problem and without their parents finding out what they were doing?

"We'll figure that out when the time comes but in the mean time we need to…" He looked up to find that Goten had crawled back into his bed, "Goten!" He groaned but he might as well have saved his breath because the youngest Saiyan had fallen back to sleep, "Great, just great." He groaned.

Then after a moment of frustration Trunks decided to try and get some rest. He punched his pillow in a more comfortable position then laid down on his bed, he knew that he wasn't going to sleep a wink.

* * *

Happosai was waiting outside his targets bedroom, fully dressed with a hanker chief tied over his bald head and under his nose. He'd waited until he was sure that everyone was asleep before he slipped out of his room and made his way stealthily towards the room Ranma, his father, and the Hibiki boy were staying in. Not too long ago he saw the Hibiki boy stagger out of the guest room, wearing only a pair of dark green pants and a pale yellow tank top, and head down the stairs. He waited till he was sure that the boy was out of range, knowing that Ryoga had a very poor sense of direction meant that he had more than enough time before the boy found his way back. If all goes according to his plan that is.

He slipped into the guest bedroom, making sure to close the door, and carefully made his way over to the young Saotome. Ranma laid sprawled on his futon, dressed only in his boxers and white wife-beater shirt, snoring like a hog. Much like his father, who was currently in his panda-form.

Happosai grinned as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small thermos. He had to make this quick before Ranma had a chance to wake up, "Come to Happi." He muttered with glee as he unscrewed the cap and carefully poured its continents over Ranma's head. As soon as the change was made, Happosai's grin grew wider, "Now for the fruits of my labor…" But before Happosai could claim what he came for, his softball sized eyes were glued on something else, "Ohhh… how sweeeettt." He drooled at the sight of Ranma-chan's half exposed breast. Then as usual, he snuggled himself up against the lushes mounds of heaven.

For a second Ranma-chan continued to sleep, then she stirred slightly, "Huh… wha…" She mumbled, then she felt something on her chest that was definitely wrong. She lifted her head a bit and found a small perverted old man she, and every woman in the world, hated on her chest, "Ahh!" She shrieked and without waiting, she slammed her fist onto the old masters bald head, sending him to the floor by her feet before she stood up on her futon, "Hey you old freak, what the hell are you doing in here!"

In an instant Happosai was back on his feet, "Ranma baby, how longs it been?" He said in a carefree tone.

"Not long enough." She snarled, "What're you doing in here in the middle of the night?"

"Well I was going to wait till morning to surprise you, but since you're awake already I may as well tell you." He said in glee, "I may have found the solution to your girl problem Ranma."

Ranma-chan narrowed her eyes, she already knew that the old man was up to no good. She also didn't like that smile on his withered old face, "What kind of a solution you old fart?"

"The one that'll guarantee you to rid yourself of your girl side forever." He said, "I found an ancient technique in a scroll that can remove or separate any unwanted curse or problem in the person's body. It may even remove a Jusenkyo curse."

Ranma-chan felt her heart racing in her chest, a technique that can remove her girl curse and make her a regular guy again? It all sounded too good to be true, "Even a Jusenkyo curse?" She repeated.

Happosai nodded, he knew that he had her, "That's right Ranma. I can remove your girl side for you but in order for the technique to work I'll need a strand of your hair. Your girl sides hair. Once I have that then I'll place it in here." He pulled out a glass bottle of clear liquid that looked like water, "The hair will fuse with the elixir inside and then I'll begin with the spell."

Ranma-chan stood silent for a few seconds that felt like hours, she involuntarily reached up to the top of her head towards her flaming red hair but then stopped within inches. Something about the way Happosai described how the technique works didn't sit right with her or her nerves. Something else was bothering her as well, why would Happosai help her in getting rid of her girl side? The old freak loves her girl form and he always whined when she didn't stay in the form long enough, long enough for him anyway. No, she had a feeling that the stinky old goat had something else in mind other than helping her.

"So how exactly does this technique work?"

Happosai tried not to look disappointed when Ranma-chan didn't comply, "I already told you Ranma, I need some hair from your girl-side to make it work. That's really all you need to know."

Ranma-chan's eyes narrowed, "Well then why don't we wait for the others. Mousse, Ryoga, and Shampoo? I'll bet they all want to be cured with that elixir as well."

Happosai scoffed, "And waste the Nyannichuan spring water when I paid good money just to get it?" It took only a few seconds before he realized what he had just said, "Uhhh…"

Hearing the Chinese word 'Nyannichuan' spring of drowned girl made Ranma-chan crouch into a fighting stance, "I knew that it was too good to be true. You're trying to keep me in my girl-form again ain't ya you old freak?"

Happosai scowled at the pigtailed youth, "C'mon now Ranma, quit being so stubborn and let old Happi have a piece of your… Ahh!" All of a sudden he was smacked from behind by a wooden sign, courtesy of a very groggy Panda-Genma.

The sign read: _KEEP IT… (flip) DOWN BOY!_

Not only was the old pervert too occupied to notice before the blow hit him but the sheer force of the blow itself caused him to lose his grip on the bottle he was holding as he was sent flying through the air. Then many things happened in the blink of an eye, first the door opened and Ryoga stepped in, unaware of what was happening. Then Happosai flew over the Lost-boy's head, his passing barely ruffled the boys already bed ruffled hair, and crashed head first into the hallway wall. And finally there was the sound of glass breaking as the bottle Happosai was holding made contact with Ryoga's head, spilling its continents all over the Lost-boy.

"AHH!" Ryoga cried, the shock of the cold water on his face was enough to make him jump back in alarm. He lost his footing then toppled backwards and crashed into the wall before slumping to the floor with a thud.

If Ranma-chan hadn't seen what happen just now she wouldn't have believed it, but she did. She slowly approached the entrance to the room where Ryoga was, "Ry… Ryoga…"

Before Ranma-chan could get an answer there was the sound of multiple footsteps coming their way. Not surprisingly the noise from her scuffle with Happosai had woken up everyone in the house, and there was no doubt in her mind that they, mainly Akane, were gonna demand what the racket was all about. All of the Tendo's, still in their nightwear, stood a few feet away from the guestroom and none of them muttered a single word for some reason. It didn't take very long for Ranma-chan to figure out why everybody was standing frozen like statues.

"Ranma… son what is the meaning of this!" Mr. Tendo spoke, not taking his eyes away from what he and the girls were looking at.

When Ranma didn't answer quickly enough, Akane yelled, "Well Ranma! What's the meaning of you in your girl form with another girl in your room? Who is she anyway and why is there water on the floor? Is this another promised fiancé of yours?" She demanded to know.

'Girl? Fiancé? What the…' Ryoga thought after regaining his thoughts and sat up, he looked around and, other then the Tendo girls and Ranma-chan, he didn't see any other girl. So what was Akane talking about? He stood up from the floor only to find Akane glaring at him pointing a wooden practice sword in his face.

"Who are you and what're you doing in our house?" She demanded, "You better answer me right now or else I'll…"

"Akane don't! That's Ryoga!" Ranma-chan shouted.

Time seemed to have frozen in its place as four dumb-struck Tendo's turned to gape at the younger Saotome, then at Ryoga, then back to Ranma-chan.

"But Ryoga is a boy." Said Kasumi.

"Who turns into a little pig when wet with water." Nabiki said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah I know that." Said Ranma-chan, "But apparently the old freak got a hold of some Jusenkyo water somehow and snuck into my room to get some of my hair so he can use it for something…"

Akane shook her head, gripping her practice sword tighter, "Ranma that is the lamest excuse I've ever heard from you yet. Do you honestly expect us to believe that…"

"If you think I'm lying then look there." Ranma-chan shouted pointing down beside where Ryoga stood.

The Tendo's and Ryoga all looked down and spotted the sprawled form of Happosai twitching on the floor. Akane looked back to Ranma-chan, "That still doesn't explain you waking us up in the middle of the night and you in your girl form or that…"

"Akane, for once in your life would you shut the hell up and just listen to me for a Goddamn minute!" Ranma-chan shouted in frustration.

"Ranma, that's no way to talk to your..." Soun scolded before a glare from Ranma-chan silenced him.

"I said 'shut up and listen' and that's means you too!" Shouted Ranma-chan. The fire in her voice succeeded in silencing Akane and her father and forcing the Tendos to take a step back, even though Akane tried to still look angry at her gender changing fiancé but for some reason couldn't, "Like I was saying, the old freak snuck in, changed me into my girl form and was trying to get some of my hair for some kind of spell that he got a hold of or something, but then Pop woke up and whacked him out of the room. But then Ryoga opened the door and got hit with the water that the old freak had and… well see for yourself."

After hearing Ranma's… explanation, everyone looked back at Ryoga who was still standing where he stood. Ryoga looked down at his hands and noticed for the first time that not only was he all wet but he wasn't a pig. He was still human, he couldn't believe it. He had hands instead of hooves, he had been cured of the pig at long last! But then why did he still feel like something was wrong? He looked down at his chest and almost immediately he knew that something was wrong.

Ranma-chan quickly covered her ears when she saw Ryoga pull the collar of his shirt down and look down at his… or rather **her** chest, then…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed.

Then…

BAAAMM!

Ryoga's eyes rolled back and her body thudded to the wooden floor. Twin trails of blood dripped from Ryoga's nose as she lay prone on the ground. Ryoga was out like a light.

"Oh my!" Said Kasumi.

The scream was so loud that almost every light in the houses of Nerima were suddenly flipped on, neighbors started wondering what the hell was going on at the Tendo house. However the aura that came with the ear-piercing scream made two certain families jolt upright in their beds.

* * *

"Ahhh!" Ryoga sat up on his futon gasping for air, his hands roaming over his flat male chest. He gazed at his hands then at his chest then he reached under the blanket and felt the area between his legs. He released the breath that he had been holding, "Oh thank god." He whispered softly.

He began rubbing the last remains of sleep from his eyes. He looked to his left and saw that Mr. Saotome, still in panda-form, laid sprawled on his futon snoring loudly. Ranma's bed was empty. He guessed that Ranma was probably in the Dojo doing his early morning sparring session or probably getting some breakfast before everyone woke up. He strained his ears to make out if anyone else in the house was awake yet and as far as he could tell only Kasumi was awake, in the kitchen as always.

"It's about time you woke up."

Ryoga jumped in surprise at the sound of that voice, but then he grunted in irritation, "Geez Ranma, what're you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" He said trying to keep the volume of his voice low as to not wake Ranma's father, but the loud snoring made it clear that Genma was in a deep state of sleep. He saw Ranma standing by the door of the room holding a glass of water in his hand and watched as he carefully closed it behind him. Ranma was already dressed in his usual attire, red sleeveless Chinese shirt with black pants, "When did you get up?"

"Oh… I've been up for a while now." He said in a steady voice. Luckily his father was sorta a heavy sleeper so he didn't have to worry about waking him up. He studied his rival for a second before asking, "So uh… how're you feeling?"

Ryoga scratched the back of his neck after stretching his arms over his head, "Good… good actually. Considering what happened last night." He said as he stood up on his bed, "Actually I don't know if what happened last night was real or if it was a dream."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Not really, except that I remember getting up last night to use the bathroom, found it without getting lost, then coming back and something about Happosai coming into our room last night, you two started fighting, then I got hit with water but I didn't turn into a pig. Instead I turned into a girl." After a moment of silence he turned to Ranma, he could see that the Saotome heir was not smiling or even making witty comment about it, he was starting to get nervous, "Ra… Ranma… please tell me that it was a dream."

Ranma's dark blue eyes locked onto Ryoga's dark brown ones, he sighed, "Ryoga… it wasn't a dream. What happened last night… really happened."

"What?"

"C'mon follow me. It'll be easier to explain in the bathroom."

Ranma turned then opened the door and walked out of the room with Ryoga close behind him. They walked down the stairs, down the hall, and into the bathroom. Luckily everybody else was still asleep and Kasumi was too busy preparing breakfast so they didn't have to worry about walking in on anyone in the bathroom. Plus the door was open, meaning that it was unoccupied. Once they were inside, Ranma placed the 'occupied' sign on the outside of the door then closed the door and locked it. He didn't want to take any chances, especially with this family. Once inside Ranma turned to the Lost-boy then looked down at the glass of water in his hand. He knew that it would come to this, he just hoped that Ryoga could handle it better now then he did last night.

He looked at his friend, his blue eyes looking apologetic, "Sorry about this buddy." Then he poured the contents of the glass over Ryoga's head.

Ryoga gave a startled yelp when the cold liquid touched his flesh, "What the hell did you do that for Ranma?" Almost immediately he noted the change in his voice and that he wasn't a pig. He looked down at himself and immediately noticed the big changes on his body, make that **her** body, again.

Ranma quickly covered her mouth with both hands before Ryoga-chan could gasp in shock, "Ryoga, I know that this is a shock to you, believe me I do, but please don't scream again. My ears are still ringing."

After a few minutes Ryoga-chan nodded her head then Ranma took his hands away from her mouth. To his relief Ryoga didn't scream or say anything for that matter, but in a way he understood how Ryoga felt right now.

"H-h-h… how…?" Ryoga-chan asked.

"The old freak managed to get his hands on some Nyannichuan spring water and he was gonna use it to create another me but as a full-time girl and would do what he wanted, or something like that. But Pop knocked the bottle out of his hand and… you got hit with it."

Ryoga-chan was still traumatized by the shock of her new change that she didn't reply. She spotted the mirror in the bathroom and slowly walked over to it. Ryoga-chan took slow shaky breaths before reaching the mirror, as though she was afraid of what she might see in the mirrors reflection. When she stood in front of the mirror and when she saw herself she let out a gasp of blank shock.

"Oh my god."

Ryoga stared at her reflection and could not believe that the girl staring back at her was really her reflection. Her face and eyes were softer, almost angelic like, her hair was still its usual ebony black color. However her eyes were now a violet color instead of dark brown. She took note that her tank top hung loose over her shoulders giving her a great view of her new cleavage. She quickly covered her chest with her arms, willing her nose not to bleed. Though she was a bit freaked out by her new body she had to admit that she looked really pretty, beautiful actually.

Just then she had a recollecting moment of when she saw Ranma change for the first time during their first fight and how Ranma had complained about becoming a girl was such a terrible curse. She remembered how she reacted, first she laughed silently to herself then she became enraged.

"_Don't make me laugh!" He bellowed as he began pulling off a handful of bandannas from his head, "How can you say a thing like that! Since when is having a beautiful body like yours a curse?" He started spinning the bandannas in his hand, channeling his ki into the the seemingly harmless pieces of cloth until they became deadly razor disks, "Ranma Saotome, you make me sick!" He shouted then launched the deadly razor disks at his most-hated rival. _

Ryoga-chan couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. How ironic that she now found herself in the same situation, except that now she'd prefer this curse than her old one. At least she was still human and she could talk and defend herself better.

Ranma was observing this from the side and he couldn't help but compare Ryoga's new girl body to his own female form. Just like him when he changed, Ryoga still looked pretty much the same except for the change of eye color, slender body, and of course the extra padding in the chest area. But for some reason Ryoga-chan had the appearance of a girl in her later teens and she also had a bit more of an athletic physique to her body then his own girl side did. Trim but a bit muscular. Ryoga-chan's shirt, now two sizes too large, also showed off her new chest almost indecently. A picture perfect shot for Nabiki to get a snap-shot of and make Kuno empty his pockets for. The straps of her tank top barely staying on her petite shoulders. Her breast looked a little smaller than his girl-forms but they were definitely larger then Akane's, her sisters, Ukyo's, and Shampoo's and seem to fit her frame perfectly, unlike his. And she looked taller than his girl-form by a few inches.

"So this is me?" Ryoga-chan asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah…" Ranma said, not really sure as to what to say to the now Lost-girl, "Hey it ain't so bad once you get used to it. At least you ain't gotta worry about becoming P-chan anymore eh?" He said.

Ryoga-chan wasn't sure how to take that comment, but she decided to let it slide for now. She turned the left handle of the sink faucet on and the sink started filling with hot water. She cupped her hands under the faucet to scoop up the steaming water then she splashed her face, neck and torso. Ryoga's body started to gain a bit of height as well as bulk and her chest was deflating, her clothes… or rather his clothes were fitting his body much better now.

"Aww, that's much better." He sighed before patting his flat male chest, "At least it works like the last curse and I can change back with hot water."

Ranma nodded just then they heard the door knob jiggle, "Hey who locked the door?" Came Akane's voice from behind the door then she started pounding on the door, "Who's in the bathroom? Open up right now!"

"I'm in here Akane." Ranma called back.

"Ranma? What're you doing in there and why is the door locked?"

"I'm getting ready to take a bath in here." Ranma answered.

"Then why's the door locked?"

"Geez Akane, can't a guy have some privacy? Even from a macho chick like you?" He called back.

Akane growled, normally she would've busted the door down, lock and all, gone in and pounded her obnoxious fiancé with her mallet but she couldn't do that now. Reason behind that was because of numerous past intrutions of bursting into the washroom, Akane's father had bought a super reinforced locking system for the bathroom door, complete with a super industrial strength door to go with it, that not even Akane's brute strength on a bad day could break down.

She grimaced, "Just don't use up all the hot water and don't take too long. There are other people who'd like to take hot baths too you know?" She said before strolling away in a heated huff.

"Sheesh, I thought she'd never leave." Ranma sighed.

"Do you have to insult her everytime you talk to her?" Ryoga said giving his rival a disapproving glare.

"Hey, it ain't my fault that she's grouchy in the morning."

"She's not grouchy all the time, it's when you start insulting her that gets her angry."

"How would you know that…" Ranma paused, now realizing what he was saying and who he was talking to, "Never mind. Why are you still defending her anyway? I mean, after everything that's happened I figured you'd never go anywhere near her again."

Ryoga shrugged, "I don't know, force of habit I guess. I know she'll never forgive me anytime soon but I can't help but hope that she'll understand that I didn't mean to hurt her nor did I mean to let it go this far."

Ranma couldn't help but sigh, somehow he knew that that was the reason why Ryoga was still defending Akane. He decided for his own good, as well as Ryoga's, to drop the subject, at least for now, "Well since we're here anyway, might as well get cleaned up. You look like you could use a bath."

Ryoga grimaced at the remark but then he looked thoughtful, it had been a while since he had had a hot bath. He sniffed his shirt and scrunched his face, he quickly made a mental note to himself that when he managed to get home he would give his clothes a good wash too, "A hot bath would be nice." He said and with that he and Ranma began to disrobe and head for the bath.

* * *

Vegetta and Goku waited outside yet another store while their wives were inside shopping. Vegetta always hated it when Bulma took him shopping for clothes especially when they go out somewhere that doesn't involve fighting, but to make his wife happy and stop nagging him he was wearing one of the outfits she bought him, dark blue denim jeans, a red t-shirt, and a black jacket. At least it wasn't pink this time. Goku made no comment to their wives shopping tactics, he just let Chi-Chi shop to her hearts desire, less he feel her wrath. He remembered his son Gohan saying something about how shopping helps Chi-Chi relax, he still didn't understand that theory. He was also wearing one of the outfits his wife bought him, russet colored dress pants and a white t-shirt, simple but it worked.

"Over a billion women living on this planet and we've managed to pick the two who are shopoholics." Vegetta complained so that only he and Goku could hear it.

"Hey it could be worse Vegetta." Goku said only to get a grunt from Vegetta, "Hey Vegetta, did you notice anything strange last night?"

"I assume you're talking about that loud shriek and that large surge of energy?" Goku nodded, "What about it Kakarrot?"

"Well last night when I felt that energy surge, I tried to sense where it came from and to see whether it was friendly or not." Goku said, "It's not as strong as last night but I can feel that whoever expelled the energy is here in this town, but then I felt something in the energy that felt kinda familiar."

Vegetta raised an eyebrow, "What're you talking about Kakarrot?"

Goku shook his head, "I'm not sure exactly but the energy had the same feel as…" He looked up to see if his wife, Bulma, or their sons were still in the store before going on, "As a Saiyans energy and not just that, it feels similar to my brother Raditz."

Vegetta eyes widened, "That's not possible Kakarrot. You know as well as I that you, myself, and our boys are the Saiyans left in existence. And Raditz is dead, he's been dead for thirteen years."

"I know that Vegetta I was there when Piccolo killed him, and I already checked with King Kai last night and he told me that Raditz is still in the Otherworld."

"And you're 100% certain about that Kakarrot?" Goku nodded, Vegetta's face became serious, more so then usual, "So your suggesting that there's possibly a rouge Saiyan lurking in this town with energy that is similar to Raditz's energy signal but it's not him because he's still dead?"

"Uhh... yeah, I think so?" Goku answered slowly.

"Then where is this 'supposed Saiyan' Kakarrot?"

"I... I don't know." Goku says sheepishly, but before he could say anything more on the subject, their wives and sons had come out of the store carrying armfuls of shopping bags.

Vegetta and Goku rejoined the rest of their families at their cars, "Took you long enough." He said.

Bulma grimaced at her husband's impatience but didn't say anything as she and Trunks put their bags in the car, "Okay so where too now?" Just then Goku's stomach gave a very loud growl, then Gohan's, then the younger boys. The four of them chuckled sheepishly, "Guess that answers that question." She checked her watch it was nearing lunchtime. Then she pulled out a map of the town, she ran a finger along the lines indicating the streets and buildings then she stopped, "Let's see the closets eateries are Ucchan's Okonomiyaki and the Cat Café."

"Cat Café?" Asked Chi-Chi, "What kind of name is that for a restaurant?"

Bulma shrugged, "I don't know, it says it's a ramen restaurant." She said as she looked back at the map, "Let's head to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, it the closest nearby and I've always wanted to try Okonomiyaki."

"I hope they have seafood." Said Goku while holding his growling stomach.

* * *

A.N. Sorry for the long wait and thank you all for your patience. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Also just so everybody knows, Ryoga's mother will show up in the next chapter then things will start to get interesting.

Also a few clear ups, first one no Zukira is not Bardock's niece by blood nor is she related to him or his sons, Bardock was her Godfather and she called him uncle because he was her father's best friend and she loved him and the others like family.

Second, I have no idea how old any of the DBZ characters are, except that Gohan is 18, Goten is 7, and Trunks is 8. Ranma, Ukyo, Mousse, Shampoo, and Akane are 16, and Ryoga will turn 17 in the fic. I will say that Vegetta is 3 years older than Zukira, Raditz I'm gonna say is 2 years older than her, and Goku or Kakarrot is 6 years younger then her.


	6. A PreBirthday surprise

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them. Zukira however is mine though.

Warning: Some characters might be O.O.C. Also this story is not for Akane fans or for Ranma/Akane fans.

' ' Means thinking.

* * *

"There we go, last load." Ryoga said putting the last of his clothes that he had pulled from his backpack into the washing machine, added the detergent, and shut the lid. He set the dial to the 'Ultra Clean' setting and the machine started filling with water, "That should do it." He said as he exited the bathroom with his load of clean clothes and headed down the hallway to his bedroom. Luckily he had clean clothes here in his house so he didn't have to wait for his clothes to dry. He wore a black tank-top with matching black kung-fu pants. Not exactly his first choice of outfit but it would have to do for now.

After a much needed bath at the Tendo's, Ryoga decided that it be best to leave the Tendo residence as soon as possible and find his way home. That is if he can stay in Nerima and find it. So to make sure that he did find his house he did the one thing he really hated to do, he asked for help finding his house. And the only person who knew where he lived and how to get there was Ranma. Even though they had settled their differences and agreed to start over, it was still really embarrassing to ask someone, let alone your former rival, to show you the way to your own home. Before Ranma left for school he'd told Ryoga that he was gonna come back after school and they'd go to Ukyo's place. It still felt a little weird that he and Ranma were actually being civil to each other rather than being hostile, but they would have to get used to it he thought having reached his room in record time

After Ranma had left for school, Ryoga had spent the whole day waiting in his house, he had tried to occupy himself by doing some cleaning around the house, playing with his dogs, training in the vacant lot while making sure that Checkers was with him the whole time, and watching TV. He waited for his mother to come home while trying so hard not to leave the house, but he just couldn't sit still. To keep his mind off of the clock, Ryoga decided to play 'Sonic Unleashed' on his Playstation 3 that he had gotten for his birthday last year. He hadn't played it in a long time so it took a while to get reacquainted with the game again. He wasn't a hard-core gamer but it gave him something to do when he had nothing to do, plus it's a fun game to play.

He folded his now laundered clothes, repacked his backpack, and started to put his clothes away. After putting his clothes away he looked down at his yellow shirt he had set aside to wear and frowned. He realized that he had always worn the same thing, yellow shirt with either black, green, or purple pants.

He looked to his half black and half white dog, who lay perched on his bed with her five pups beside her, "Do I always wear the same yellow shirt?" He asked her and the canine Hibiki tilted her head to one side, which Ryoga took it as a 'yes', "Maybe it's time for a change in color."

He put away the yellow shirt and searched through his dresser drawers and found nothing but the same yellow shirts and his old Junior High uniform, he then looked in his closet and found numerous shirts that he had never seen before. Apparently his mother had gone clothes shopping for him while he was gone. He selected a forest green sleeve-less shirt hanging in the back. It looked much like the skating uniform he wore when he was paired up with Ranma in the fight with the Golden Pair only this one had silver ties and buttons and there was a silver-blue howling wolf depicted on the back. Ryoga turned to his dogs and, not knowing why, held the shirt in front of him.

"What do you guys think?" He asked.

"Arf!" Barked Checkers, her pups all gave little yips in response.

"Yes?"

"Arf!" Repeated Checkers and her pups.

Ryoga gave a cute smile with a fang poking through his lips, "Alright if you say so." He said as he put the shirt on and some dark red wristbands, it was a perfect fit, "How's that, good?"

"Woof!" Checkers and her pups barked.

Ryoga chuckled, "Glad you guys approve." He said. Then he grabbed his backpack and walked over to sit on his bed with his dogs, there he pulled out a cloth-covered round ball and unwrapped it once it was unwrapped he held a shiny orange crystal ball in his hand. "What is this thing?" He asked himself as he inspected the smooth sphere in his hands.

Checkers and her pups stared at the orange sphere in her master's hand as though trying what to make of it themselves. Checkers then issued a 'woof' to her pups before jumping off the bed and leaving the room. A few minutes later she came back into the bedroom, this time carrying something in her mouth.

Ryoga looked down at the two-toned dog when she gently nudged his leg with her nose, "Hmm? What do you got there Checkers? You wanna play ball?"

Checkers placed whatever she was holding in her mouth on the ground by her master's feet then jumped on the bed again. Ryoga looked at whatever Checkers had brought him and his eye grew wide. It was an orange crystal sphere, like the one he was holding, only this one had six red stars in the center. He reached down and picked up the six star ball and held it next to the four star ball in his other hand.

"Another one?" Just then the two starry orbs began to shine with a shimmering golden glow. Ryoga became rapt by the gentle glow of the crystal orbs, actually he thought it was beautiful but then as quickly as it came, the glow then vanished. "Wow, I'll have to show these to mom when she gets home."

With that Ryoga carefully wrapped the two spheres into individual cloths and carefully placed them in the top drawer of his dresser. Then he laid back on his bed with Checkers and her pups by his side, man did it feel good to lay on his own bed again, if only he and his mom didn't get lost all the time then he'd get to sleep in his own bed more often.

"I wonder if there are more of those crystal ball things? Whatever they are." He wondered as he stroked Checkers head, the little puppies nudged his hand to get their share of attention from their master. He looked over at his desk and his alarm clock read ten to two, "Only an hour left before schools out." His stomach then growled, "Guess I better eat something before Ranma gets here."

'_Knock, knock, knock!'_

Ryoga and his six dogs lifted their heads up in alert, Checkers gave a 'woof, woof' while her pups began yipping with excitement, "Easy, easy." Ryoga soothed and the dogs calmed down, but Ryoga knew who was at the door, "He's early." He said getting up from the bed with his dogs following and Checkers leading the way. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he found a grinning pigtailed boy waiting for him by the door, "Ranma, what're you doing here?"

"I came to get you." Ranma said, "Remember I told you this morning that I was gonna come by after school and we were gonna hang at Ucchan's?"

"I know that, but it's kinda early isn't it?" Asked Ryoga, "I mean doesn't school end in an hour?"

Ranma shrugged, "I cut my last class and so did Ucchan." He said causually, then he noted the look Ryoga was giving him, "I had study hall for last period and Ucchan has gym. It's no big deal."

"If you say so." Ryoga said uneasily.

"So c'mon let's go, Ucchan's waiting for us." Ranma said grabbing Ryoga's arm and began dragging him out of the house, but the Lost-Boy pulled his arm back before he got more than two steps out the door.

"Wait! I can't leave." He said, "I'm supposed to wait here for my Mom till she gets here."

Ranma let out a soft grunt, he swore that his former rival can act just like a little kid at times, which he found kinda funny and weird at times, but didn't say anything about it, "Ryoga, your mom's letter said for you to try and stay in Nerima till she got here, not in the house." He said, "Besides you'll be with me and Ucchan the whole time, we'll make sure you stay put even if I have to put a collar and leash on you." He joked.

"Very funny." Ryoga commented flatly.

"I thought it was." Ranma chuckled but stopped when he noted that Ryoga wasn't enjoying the joke as he was, "Oh c'mon Ryoga I was only kidding, ya know, a joke? Ha, ha, ha?" Ryoga didn't even crack a smile, "Look just leave a note for your mom, that way if she gets home before you do then she'll know where you are and who you're with and not worry so much."

Ryoga gave the matter some thought before nodding, "Alright. Give me a minute." He said as he walked back into the house.

A notepad and pencil were sitting on the counter in the kitchen so Ryoga made quick work of the note saying:

_Gone to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki restaurant with Ranma Saotome. Be back soon, love Ryoga. _

Satisfied with the letter Ryoga grabbed his wallet and red umbrella, said bye to his dogs, and left the house following Ranma to Ukyo's.

"By the way, nice shirt." Ranma commented, "Nice to see you wearing something that ain't yellow for a change."

"Thanks… I think."

* * *

Five minutes later…

"Oh man, I can't believe that old woman managed to hit both of us with one shot." Ranma-chan grumbled whilst wringing excess water from her braided hair.

"And why can't you believe it?" Ryoga-chan asked while wringing her oversized shirt, "It was bound to happen sooner or later. What I can't figure out is how the hell does she always manage to hit those who are Jusenkyo cursed?"

"I have no idea." Ranma-chan said flicking her pigtail over her shoulder, "At least we got rid of Shampoo and Mousse."

Ryoga-chan smiled a little, "Yeah before you decided to head for the hills with Shampoo still attached to your head."

What started out as a calm walk towards Ucchan's Okonomiyaki quickly turned chaotic, first Shampoo spotted Ranma on her way back to the Cat Cafe from a delivery and instantly glomped onto him, then she started going on about that he should take her on a date completely ignoring Ryoga and that he was there all together. Then Mousse appeared out of nowhere and attacked Ryoga, thinking he was Ranma at least until he put his glasses on and realized that he wasn't fighting Ranma at all, and then Ryoga punched his in the face. Then in the blink of an eye all four of them were doused with water, courtesy of the old ladle lady, triggering the curses and causing Ranma-chan to start running in fear with Shampoo-cat clinging onto her and Ryoga-chan running after them with an agitated Mousse-duck flapping after her. Finally after getting rid of the two Amazons, the two young teens made their way to Ukyo's restaurant.

Ranma-chan's face turned slightly blue, then she turned to the Lost-Girl, "You'll keep this to yourself, right? You won't tell anyone about this will you?" She pleaded hoping that the bandanna wearing fighter will keep her secret.

"I haven't told anyone yet have I?" Ryoga-chan said, she could clearly see the desperation in Ranma-chan's clear blue eyes, "So you can be assured that I won't tell anyone Ranma. I swear."

Ranma-chan sighed in relief, she knew through the sincerity in Ryoga-chan's voice that she would not tell anyone, "Thanks man." Then she blinked, "Hey wait a minute, how the hell did you know about my… about the…"

"About your 'problem' with c-a-t-s?" Ryoga-chan finished for her, whispering the last part of her question. "Don't you remember Ranma I was there when Shampoo came back from China and your father explained your little… well your… ya know."

"What? Ryoga you didn't get back until after I had gone cat at the school." Ranma-chan said, "I remember because after you found out that I had 'supposedly' kissed Akane, you and Kuno attacked me like you always do."

Ryoga-chan sighed, "That's right I did do that, but I was there at the Tendo house when your dad explained putting you through the Cat-Fist training, but I guess you wouldn't remember since you were too busy shaking like a leaf the whole time." Noting that Ranma wasn't quite making the connections she grunted, "I wasn't there as 'Ryoga Hibiki' but as…" She gestured slowly.

"P-chan." Ranma-chan said finally getting the connection, "So you knew all along about my…" Ryoga-chan nodded, "and you haven't told anyone about it?" Ryoga-chan shook her head, "Oh well... not that I'm complaining but why haven't you? I mean you've been trying to 'kill me' all this time I figured you would use it to your advantage."

"Maybe the same reason why you didn't tell Akane that I was P-chan all this time." Ryoga-chan shrugged, "And as for why I didn't use your… ahem problem to my advantage is because it's not my style. I wanna beat you fair and square with my own skill and my own strength. If I were to beat you and the end result is cause of a trick or your… problem then I'd rather deny it and be called a loser than claim that victory. I have more respect than that." She said firmly.

"Oh…"

Now Ranma-chan really felt bad and like a total ass. Ryoga had known about her phobia of cats all this time and yet she kept it a secret and never used it against her, like Shampoo, and her father, and even Akane, despite their constant bickering and their rivalry, but that was how she was raised. 'Use your enemy's flaws and weaknesses against them to ensure their defeat and your victory,' that's what her father had taught her and that's what she always did. Even though she had kept Ryoga's secret for God knows how long there were countless times where she kept taunting the Lost-boy with pig-puns, pig-jokes, and even splashed him and kicked him away, just to make him mad and hinting to Akane to make the connection herself. Yet despite the obvious motions from either Ranma or Ryoga, Akane never made the connection. At least not until Ryoga told her himself.

While they continued their way to Ukyo's, Ryoga-chan glanced at her petite-sized hands and couldn't help but compare this new curse to her old one again. Sure there's still some 'obstacles' that she'll need to handle but at least this way she won't be someone's or something's dinner when hit with water. Of course she would've preferred to be not cursed at all and be a regular guy all the time but so would everyone else who've been to Jusenkyo. Now the big question was, how was she gonna explain this to her mother when she gets home?

"So uhh… how're you doin?"

"With what?"

"With uhh… ya know… becoming a girl?" Ranma-chan gestured to her friend, "I mean I've noticed that you're not freaking out or getting nosebleeds or anything."

Ryoga-chan's cheeks turned slightly red, "Just as long as I don't look down at my bare chest when I'm in this form than I'll be fine. As for becoming a girl I'm still a little shaken up about it." Ranma-chan nodded understandingly, "It sure as hell beats turning into a weak pathetic little piglet, at least this way I'm still human and I can talk and still fight and I don't have to worry about being eaten by wild animals or become someone's sweet n' sour pork for dinner." She shuddered, thinking about all of those close calls she had when she had changed into a pig.

"Or becoming someone's pwecious widdle Charlotte or Porkchop?" Ranma-chan said in baby talk with a sly smirk.

Ryoga-chan scowled at the redhead Saotome, "Don't start with me Saotome." She warned.

"Aww c'mon Ryoga, I was just kiddin with ya. Jeez, ya need to lighten up."

"Funny that's exactly what Ukyo said yesterday when I came back."

"Did she?" Ryoga-chan nodded, "Weird, but she's right ya know, you need to lighten up and not take things so seriously all the time."

"Yeah I know, I try not to but it can't be helped ya know, especially the way my life's been." She said.

Ranma-chan nodded, "You just need to try not to be so serious all the time, and it wouldn't hurt if you smiled a bit more often?" She added, "And I mean a 'real' smile, not that mirthless grin or that maniacal smirk you always do."

Ryoga-chan looked shameful, "Well I've never had any reason to smile except for when my Mom's home and…. when I was around Akane." She whispered the last part.

Sencing her companions discomfort Ranma-chan cleared her throat to change the subject, "At least you still got to keep your hair color as a girl, the only thing that different between both forms is your eye color. What's up what that anyway?"

"How the hell should I know? I've only had this body for half a day and you expect me to know?"

"Well maybe it's a hidden family gene or something." Ranma-chan shrugged, "I have no idea man. I gave up trying to figure out Jusenkyo's stupid curses a while ago." Then she smirked, "At least it looks good on you as a girl. Although I have to admit, I figured if you ever had the same curse as me that you'd turned out to be a blonde with green eyes."

Ryoga-chan gave a light snort, "Me a blonde? Yeah right, that'll be the day when I decide to go blonde."

"Why not, you wear yellow all the time therefore I think you'd look good as a blonde."

"And I think you're nuts if you think that." The bandannaed Hibiki said with a chuckle, Ranma-chan also joined in the laughter. The two of them continued their way to Ucchan's when Ryoga-chan spoke up again, "Hey Ranma, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah what?"

"Well speaking as someone who deals with becoming a girl from time to time…" She cleared her throat, her cheeks becoming warm, "what advice would you give to someone who shares the same problem to make it easier to deal with?"

It took a moment for Ranma-chan to understand Ryoga-chan's question before answering, "Well I would definitely advise you to train yourself while in that body, because some things that you normally do as a guy may not work as well or the same when you're a girl. Like your brute strength or your breaking point. Although I can see that you can still carry that umbrella of yours. Maybe spend a little time as girl, that way you get used to the change and your new body. Also watch out for Nabiki and her camera."

"I'm already watching out for Nabiki. I don't want to give another reason to charge me for anything."

"Yeah well that's not what I'm talking about." She motioned for the Lost-Girl to come closer, "What I meant was to watch out for Nabiki because now that you turn into a girl like me, she'll try to get any kind of pictures of you in that form and sell them to people like Kuno."

Ryoga-chan blinked, "Are you serious?"

"I'm dead serious." Ranma-chan said seriously, "She takes pictures of Akane all the time and sells them to the guys at our school for money and she sells pictures of my girl side to Kuno for the same thing, which is why I try not to spend too much time in my girl-form at the Tendo house."

"But isn't it illegal to sell pictures of people without their knowing it?"

Ranma-chan shook her head, "The thing is Akane knows that Nabiki's doing it and so does her family, I found out while fighting Kuno a few days after we started living at the Tendo's, he had pictures of both Akane and my girl-side in his pockets. And just so you know while Akane's working out or whatever, Nabiki stands there beside her and take pictures of her and Akane doesn't say anything."

"But why, why is Nabiki doing that?"

"Kasumi says it's because their dad hasn't taught classes in a really long time, that Nabiki stepped in and now handles the money business. Hence why she sells photos of her own sister and my girl side to people like Kuno, sets up bets during any given fights going on at the time, and blackmails people. For money." Ranma-chan grimaced.

Ryoga-chan frowned, "Hasn't she ever thought of getting a real job like any other teenager and making honest money? That's what I do when I'm on the road and I don't feel like camping."

Ranma-chan scoffed, "Why would she? The way she looks at it, why should she get her hands dirty with real laboring work for money when she can make people do it for her with whatever she has on them, without having to lift a finger?"

"Except for pushing the buttons on her calculator." Ryoga-chan added bitterly, "And if you know that she's doing it why haven't you said anything to stop her? I mean I know you don't like being a girl, for the most part, but c'mon it's still you, just in the other gender."

Ranma-chan's eyes narrowed, "Hey Ryoga, don't think that I let her because I don't care. If I could stop her from selling pictures of my girl-side to perverts like Kuno I would've done it from the start."

"So then why didn't you?" Ryoga-chan asked, but before Ranma-chan had a chance to answer the question there was a sudden cry of…

"PIGTAILED-GIRL!"

"Oh no." Ranma-chan groaned.

Sure enough there was Upperclassmen Kuno up ahead, running towards them with his arms outstretched intending on embracing the now female Saotome with a back cracking hug, "Oh Pigtailed-girl, how I've longed to see you my dar… umph!" His declaration of love was cut short due to Ranma-chan having just kicked him in the face, his hands just inches away from reaching her.

"Not now Kuno, I'm not in the mood to deal with the likes of you right now." Ranma-chan said flatly.

"My love, can you not see the fires of love which burn with such a powerful passion in mine own heart? It is with the fires of our love that I shall never… NEVER… give up!" Declared Kuno. Ranma-chan pulled her foot back from Kuno's squashed face, leaving a perfect impression of her footprint on his face, and the Kendoist fell flat on his face.

"See what I have to put up with all the time?" Ranma-chan asked looking to Ryoga-chan, who nodded.

Kuno quickly regained consciousness and lifted his head up to gaze at his beloved pigtailed-girl and it was then that he noticed the attractive dark-haired girl standing beside her. He was infatuated with her just as he had become infatuated with Akane and the Pigtailed-girl.

He pushed himself to his feet and smiled, "And what vision of loveliness has the Heavens themselves beseeched upon me to present but an angel from the Heavenly sanctuary itself." He said pulling out a red rose from his sleeves.

Ryoga-chan blinked, "Are you talking to her or me?"

"I speak of you my ebony-haired angel." Kuno said as he tossed the rose to Ryoga-chan, which she caught with ease.

'Oh no, I know that creepy look in Kuno's eye.' Ranma-chan thought as her eyes switched from Ryoga-chan to Kuno.

"Seeing as how we have not met before, I shall take this time to properly introduce mineself." Kuno then gave his hair a casual flick, "I am the protector of all innocent maidens, I am the righter of wrongs to the wicked. The sound of my voice strikes fear into the hearts of all mine enemies. I am… auhhh!" Once again Kuno was cut off by a hard 'thwack' on his head by a heavy red umbrella, courtesy of Ryoga-chan herself, "That hurt you know." He said calmly.

"That's the idea you moron." Ryoga-chan said after pulling her umbrella back, "And any case I already know who you are and I don't really care either. So why don't you just go away before I lose my cool and am forced to hurt you."

'Uh-oh bad move.' Ranma-chan thought.

Kuno's eyebrows arched, "A challenge then eh? Very well then umbrella-wielding Bandanna-girl, I accept." He announced while raising his bokken, feeling very confident in himself, "And should you win then I shall permit you to date me."

"Umbrella-wielding Bandanna-girl?" Both girls questioned.

Without warning Kuno made a quick dash towards Ryoga-chan and within reaching her he swung his bokken towards her. Ryoga-chan made no move whatsoever to dodge or even block the oncoming attack, instead she reached up and grabbed the wooden sword when it was within reach stopping it on the spot and held it tightly in her right hand. Kuno eyes widen with shock and he tried to pull back his weapon but it was useless, Ryoga-chan's grip on his bokken was way too strong.

'What incredible strength she possess.' Kuno thought.

Ryoga-chan's violet eyes narrowed as she jerked the wooden sword out of the stunned Kuno's grasp and held it in her petite-sized hands, "And what the hell makes you think that I would ever want to date the likes of you?" She scowled before snapping the bokken in two as though it were a mere toothpick. She discarded the broken weapon and reared her fist back, "You sick jerk!" With that she punched the Kendoist in the face and sent him rocketing towards the sky.

'She's strong. Stronger then Akane Tendo and as skilled as the Pigtailed-girl.' Thought Kuno as flew through the skies.

Ranma gave an impressive nod as she watched the annoying Kendoist soar higher and higher until he was nothing but a dot in the sky, "Nice distance Ryoga. I guess that brute strength of yours didn't change one bit."

"I guess not." She shrugged just then she felt something grab onto her chest and there was a slight pressure nuzzling between her breast, it made the hairs on her neck stand on end and sent a icy chill down her spine, she looked down and saw the cause.

Snuggled to Ryoga-chan's chest was none other than Happosai, he gazed up at her with joyous eyes, "I've been looking for you two." He grinned pressing his face further into her chest, "Although I may have lost the Nyannichuan spring water and my chance to have Ranma's girl-side as my own personal concubine, you do make a very lovely girl Ryoga my boy." He drooled squeezing Ryoga's breasts. "Oh how sweeeeeett."

Ryoga-chan was disgusted and furious in nanoseconds, "GET OFF OF ME YOU DIRTY OLD MAN!" She screamed while pulling the old Master off of her and sent him flying with a powerful soccer-style kick, until the old man was like Kuno, nothing but a dot in the sky. She then shuddered feeling dirty, "Ugh! That was so nasty."

"Welcome to my world." Ranma-chan said, "Of course you realize that now the stinky old goat is gonna try and splash you whenever he can and grope you, and Kuno is gonna be after you now that he's seen your girl-side." Ranma-chan said matter-of-factly.

Ryoga-chan looked incredulously at her former rival, "And this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak isn't it?"

Ranma-chan gave a little nod, "C'mon let's get to Ucchan's and get some hot water and some food, I'm starving."

Ryoga-chan rolled her violet colored eyes, "You're always starving Ranma."

* * *

Ukyo was working on a special order of Okonomiyaki while waiting for Ranma to come by with Ryoga. This was a very special order. Luckily the restaurant only had two customers that were just leaving so she had plenty of time to work on her creation before the boys came by.

Earlier today in school Ukyo had caught up with Ranma and asked how it went at the Tendo's last night. Ranma had said it was 'eventful' in a lot of ways one being that he and the Lost-Boy had patched things up between them and the other… well he wouldn't say. He did however tell her that Ryoga's mother was coming home and that his birthday was Saturday. When Ukyo asked Ranma why Ryoga never said anything to them, the young Saotome shrugged and said that Ryoga wasn't really a big-time partier and it's always been just him and his mother. So they came up with a plan that Ranma would bring Ryoga over to the shop after school and they'll have a small celebration for him. After all, friends do celebrate other friends birthdays right.

"There we go." She said smiling, finishing the 'special' okonomiyaki order and gently putting it on a plate, "Perfect."

"I still don't see why you won't tell me what this is about Ranma."

"And I already told you Ryoga, it's a secret."

Ukyo looked up and saw two young girls walk in, one of them she knew right away as her childhood friend/fiancé but she didn't recognize the other girl and she saw no sign of the Lost-Boy, though there was something eerily familiar about her. "Hey there Ran-chan."

"Hiya Ucchan." Ranma-chan greeted his best friend.

"Hi Ukyo." Ryoga-chan greeted though she knew that Ukyo wouldn't recognize her.

"Hi." Ukyo greeted not wanting to be rude. She didn't know why but there was something familiar about this girl, she had heard Ranma say Ryoga's name but she couldn't see any sign of the Hibiki boy, 'Maybe she's related to Ryoga. She kinda looks like him, especially with that bandanna tied around her head.' She thought, 'She just better not be engaged to Ran-chan otherwise we're gonna have problems.' She thought before turning to Ranma-chan, "So Ran-chan, who's your friend and where's Ryoga? I thought you were gonna bring him with you? Did he get lost again?"

Ranma-chan went silent, she could already tell that Ukyo was hoping that Ryoga-chan wasn't another fiancé by the look in her eyes. Ranma-chan turned to Ryoga-chan who had caught the same vibe from Ukyo, Ryoga-chan tilted her head slightly with a 'might as well tell her' look on her face. Ranma-chan sighed, she looked over her shoulders to see if the two costumers were listening in on their conversation then she took a deep breath and prayed, "Uhh Ucchan, that **is** Ryoga."

Ukyo blinked, "What?"

"I am Ryoga." Ryoga-chan repeated quietly, "Ryoga Hibiki."

Ukyo looked at Ryoga-chan and the Lost-girl rubbed the back of her neck and her gave a sheepish smile with the tips of her fangs poking out. Upon seeing those pearly white canines, the smile, and the hand gesture, Ukyo made the connection and was knocked for six, her brain was racing with questions but before she could open her mouth to ask them Ranma-chan spoke and said, "Uhh Ucchan before you start asking the how and what questions, could we get some hot water? Then after wards we'll explain everything."

"Uhh… yeah… sure."

They waited until the last of the customers that Ukyo had were gone before they had gotten their hot water to change back and explain why Ryoga was now a girl and it took about ten maybe fifteen minutes for the two boys to explain last night's little fiasco, so to speak, and Ukyo didn't seem too bothered by it. A little flabbergasted at first but then again who wouldn't be.

"Oh my god! Cried Ukyo as she poured cold water on Ryoga again for the third time and watched as he became female again for the third time today again, "I still don't believe it! You got rid of your pig curse and traded it for a girl curse like Ranma?"

"It wasn't really intentional Ucchan." Ranma said as he watched Ukyo continue to pour hot and cold water on his former rival. Instantly reminding him of when she did it to him when he told her about his curse.

"And I didn't exactly trade it either." Ryoga said after Ukyo poured hot water on him again, turning back into a male again. "It was more like by accident."

"If you say so Sugar. Although I have to admit you do make a pretty girl Ryoga." She smiled pouring cold water on the Lost-Boy again, "You might even give Ran-chan a run for his money with your girl-form."

"I'd rather not think about that Ukyo." Ryoga-chan stated flatly. She looked over at Ranma who was watching the whole thing with a slight smirk on his face. Obviously he was remembering about the time when he first told Ukyo about his curse and how she had spent almost an entire hour pouring hot and cold water on him, switching back and forth. She thought it was hilarious at the time, of course now being in the same situation, she reconsidered her past action, "Not a word Saotome." She warned, Ranma made a zipper-motion across his lips, indicating that he won't say anything. It took a while before Ukyo was content enough to stop pouring hot and cold water on the Hibiki boy. "All right we're here, so now will you tell me what's so important?" He asked Ranma as he was towel drying his drenched hair.

Ranma turned to Ukyo and received a nod from her, the pigtailed-boy smiled, "Okay but first you have to close your eyes."

"What?"

"It's part of the reason why we came here." Ranma explained but Ryoga didn't look convinced, "This isn't a trick Ryoga, I swear. It's more of a… a uh… a first step towards our new friendship." He said hoping that would help ease Ryoga's suspicion, it didn't, "Please just trust me Ryoga."

Ryoga stared at Ranma intently, he had a small hunch that the Pigtailed-boy was up to something whenever he said 'trust me', and the fact that Ukyo was somewhat involved didn't help either. Then he remembered that he and Ranma were supposed to start over but some habits were heard to break. He sighed, "Alright, but no funny business or I'll hang you by your pigtail Ranma." He warned then closed his eyes.

After a quick check to make sure that Ryoga's eyes were really closed, Ranma nodded to Ukyo and the young chef placed the finished plate in front of the Bandanna-boy, "Okay, open them."

Ryoga did so and looked down and his dark brown eyes widened in awe. In front of him was a perfectly cooked okonomiyaki with writing that said _'Happy 17__th__ Birthday Ryoga'_ on it in perfected okonomiyaki sauce, all done by Ukyo herself. Right beside the plate was a card in scribbled handwriting, Ryoga could tell right away that it was from Ranma himself and tried not to laugh at the handwriting.

"I know it's early but we wanted to wish you a happy birthday, so… " He and Ukyo smiled and said, "Happy Birthday Ryoga."

"You guys I… I… I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything Sugar." Said Ukyo, "This is what friends do for each other."

Ryoga felt tears building in his brown eyes while his heart melted, no one, other than his mother, had ever done anything like this for him. Even though his birthday was tomorrow it was still nice to be wished a happy birthday, "Thanks you guys. This really means a lot to me."

The three teens celebrated with okonomiyaki and hot tea. Along the line Ukyo even offered to teach the two boys the basics of Okonomiyaki cooking. She showed them how to make a basic batter, sauce, and the proper flipping technique. She was amazed that, to say the least, they both made a couple impressive okonomiyaki on their first couple tries, though Ranma's first two were a little too crispy and Ryoga's first one needed a little more time to cook but they got the hang of it after that. They even had a little competition to see who can make the best looking and tasting okonomiyaki in ten minutes, Ukyo tasted both and decided on a tie. Ranma and Ryoga agreed on the tie and both agreed that their best strengths were in fighting not in cooking, even though they can cook.

During the whole cooking lesson they each shared a story from their past, Ryoga and Ukyo had already shared their now it was Ranma's turn. And he was sharing the story of when his mother came to visit the Tendo house and offered to teach Akane how to cook and it ending in disaster. They all shared in the laugh, even Ryoga joined in the laughter. Afterwards the boys offered to help clean up by washing the dishes while Ukyo cleaned the grill, the party was a success. As Ukyo finished wiping down the grill a group of people walked into the restaurant and sat down in one of the booths.

Ukyo had never seen these people before but with Nerima's reputation of brining in the strangest of people and fighters, she didn't think much of it. She picked an order sheet and walked over to the table, "Welcome to Ucchan's, what can I get for you?"

* * *

Kira's heart was racing within her chest as she approached the front door patio of her home. It has been a long while since she had been home but it has been even longer since she had seen her son. She only hoped that he'd gotten her letter and was home right now. She took her key from her bag and unlocked the door, she could hear woofing and approaching footsteps from behind the door. When she opened the door she was greeted by a two-toned dog and five little puppies but not her son.

Maybe he was lost somewhere in the house, "Ryoga!" She called, "Ryoga, honey I'm home." She called but no answer came back to her.

Kira heard Checkers whining by the kitchen counter and walked over to see what was wrong. When she got there she spotted a handwritten note in her son's handwriting, a smile reached her face, "He's at Ucchans." She said then a thought came to her that she would go and surprise her son there. She took a little while to put her bags away before walking out the door and heading to the restaurant

* * *

Ukyo took a deep breath before preparing herself to tackle the huge order that sat in front of her, "Okay here we go." She told herself.

She grabbed the bowl of freshly mixed batter and poured 25 individual ten inch disks onto the hot grill, after pouring the last one she grabbed two mini spatulas from her holster and gave each disk a proper flip. Twirling her mini spatulas in her hands after each flip, then she basted each okonomiyaki with a perfect amount of sauce with an artistic flare and topped each one with the required toppings. Once each okonomiyaki was perfectly cooked she grabbed her mini spatulas and tossed each one onto clean white plates in front of her, each on hitting their target with great accuracy. She repeated the same routine again then twirled her spatulas in her hands before placing both back into her holster, a content grin showed on her face.

Ukyo picked up the large tray of food and brought it to a booth where the two families were sitting at, one was a family of three and the other was a family of four, "Alright one order of a vegetarian okonomiyaki, 2 Cantonese-style, 6 teriyaki beef, 6 sweet-n-sour chicken, 6 sweet-n-sour pork, 6 Western style crab and cod fish, 15 seafood specials, and 15 all meat specials made Mongolian style. Plus 5 iced teas and 2 milks for the kids. Did I miss anything?"

Bulma shook her head, "Nope that sounds just right."

Ukyo smiled with satisfaction, "Alright well enjoy your meals." Then she headed back to the grill where the boys were sitting, "Whew 57 individual okonomiyaki in ten minutes, that's a new record in my book." Thankfully the rush was over, so the restaurant was pretty empty except for the two families she had just served and her and the boys.

"They just ordered 57 individual okonomiyaki in just one order! For only two families!" Ranma said in awe while watching the two families eat, "Man, and Akane says I eat like a pig." Then he turned to Ryoga, "No pun intended Ryoga."

Ryoga shook his head, "No offense taken."

The Briefs family and the Son family each took their orders and began to eat, surprisingly Goku was actually eating civilly and so was Vegetta and their kids.

"Mmmm, this is good." Gohan said before taking another bite of delicious okonomiyaki.

"This stuff hits the spot." Exclaimed Goten.

"You said it." Agreed Trunks.

Vegetta didn't say a word however, he just kept eating his food. He had never had okonomiyaki before or even heard of such a food, but he had to admit that it was very tasty.

Goku swallowed his mouth full of delicious okonomiyaki and licked his lips, "Mmm, this stuff is great. Wonder why we don't have an okonomiyaki eatery where we live?" He said taking another big bite.

Chi-Chi looked over at Ukyo as she was cleaning the grill, she had been watching the young chef while she was preparing their food, it was really amazing to watch the young chef prepare each order. Her speed, her technique, the way she did everything was like watching an intricate dance, "That girl is amazing. I've never seen anyone cook like that before. I wonder if she's the only one that works here?"

"Must be, I don't see anyone else other than her and those boys." Said Bulma.

"Actually those two boys were in the back." Goku said, "I could feel their energies as they walked out, and I gotta say that they and that girl have the strongest energy levels in this town."

"They maybe the strongest in this town but they're nothing compared to us Kakarrot." Vegetta added before taking another bite his food. He glanced up at the three teens, he could tell that they were fighters of some kind, each of them have a strong energy level as Goku said but not as strong as the energy level they felt last night. His gaze landed on the bandanna-boy last and for some reason he couldn't take his eyes off of the boy, 'Why does that boy look familiar?' He wondered, he knew he'd never seen the boy before but there was something familiar about him, he just didn't know why. He shook his head and resumed eating his meal.

After cleaning the grill Ukyo turned to the boys, "So Ryoga, Ran-chan tells me that your mom's coming home today." She smiled, "Must be excited to have your mom home for your birthday."

Ryoga's cheeks turned slightly red but he also smiled, "It's been a while since we last saw each other, so it'll be nice to see her again." He reached into his pocket for his wallet and pulled out three wallet-sized photos, "Here's some pictures of me and my mother." He said handing the photos to Ukyo.

Ukyo took the photos to look at them, after flipping through the first and second she smiled. The first photo was of a beautiful young woman with dark eyes and long black hair wearing a simple green dress holding a small baby in her arms, Ukyo could immediately tell that the woman was Ryoga's mother and the small child was Ryoga himself. The second photo was of Ryoga's mother wearing a dark blue training gis with dark red armbands, she had a gold medal around her neck and was holding a smiling five year old Ryoga in her arms. The last photo was a Christmas photo, it was of Ryoga's mother wearing a dark green festive kimono sitting on a couch with Ryoga, who's also wearing a matching festive robe, with a two-toned black and white dog sitting across the Lost-Boys lap and a lit up Christmas tree. The last photo touched her heart, it was really a Kodiak moment for she had never seen the Lost-Boy look so happy. Not even when he was with Akane. And she had to admit that he looked handsome in the picture too. She looked at the back of the photo and saw that it was taken two years ago but it was still a beautiful picture.

"Your mom's beautiful Sugar." She said still smiling, "And I have to say that you were a cutie when you were a baby." She said showing the picture of Ryoga's mom holding him when he was a baby.

Ryoga's cheeks turned bright red. Ranma examined the photos and felt a twinge of jealousy, for he knew that there were no photos of him and his mother together before his father took him away on that stupid training trip. He looked at the second photo and grinned, "Hey Ryoga, where was this taken?"

Ryoga looked at the photo, "I think we were in a place called 'West City' at the time, there was an All-Women's Martial Arts tournament years ago and my mom participated." Then he smiled, "She won that tournament and took the title of Women's Martial Arts Champion. Infact she still holds that title today."

"Oh yeah I remember reading that in your mom's letter." Ranma said, "Better not let Akane know about these 'All-Women's Martial Arts Tournaments' that are going on or else she'll be wanting to go participate in every one of them just to prove that 'I'm a Martial Artist' too." He spoke the last part in his mock Akane's voice, which surprisingly Ryoga didn't say anything.

Ukyo nodded, "So where's your dad Sugar? How come he's not in any of these pictures?"

"I uh… I don't have a dad Ukyo." Ryoga told her.

Ukyo blinked in surprise at this information, "What? What'd you mean you don't have a dad Ryoga?"

"My mom separated from my dad before I was born." He told her, then decided to tell the whole story. He explained from what his mother had told him how his parents met up until their separation, "After I was born, my mother stayed with my grandparents until she found a place of her own." He gave a sad smile, "It's weird but even though I know she says that she doesn't think about my dad, I know she still loves him."

"Yeah? How do you know?" Ranma asked.

"Sometimes I hear her crying in her room whenever we're both home." He said, "When I was little I'd ask her what's wrong and she'd always tell me that it was nothing, that she was watching a sad movie or reading a sad book, but I knew it wasn't true. When I'd see her crying she would always clutch the necklace she always wears and ask 'why?' I asked her about the necklace and she said that it was a gift from my father, so I know that whenever I see her crying, she's thinking about him."

"So she misses him." Ukyo said, Ryoga nodded, "Say uh… what was your dad's name?"

Ryoga smirked, "I don't know it's a weird name. I know it rhymes with some kinda vegetable." He said, "My mom also said that my dad had a little brother as well, which means I've got an uncle I also don't know. She said his name was… I don't know, it's supposed to mean 'carrot' or something. Oh and she had to work with a guy named… Vege… Vege-something and his big dumb as an ox baby-sitter." He shook his head, "She says that she and the guy never got along because she was a 'low-level' and he was an 'elite'."

"They were named after vegetables? What the hell kinda names are those?" Ranma asked and Ryoga shrugged, "And here I thought the Amazons were the ones with funny names."

Ukyo chuckled, "No kidding. What's next, another Amazon shows up who goes by the name of 'Lotion' or perhaps 'Soap'?"

"Knowing my luck, it wouldn't surprise me." Ranma said flatly.

"By the way, what did you mean when you said that your mom was a low-level and that Veg-what's-his-name was an elite?" Asked Ukyo.

Ryoga shook his head and shrugged, "I don't know, mom would never tell me what all that was about. She says that it's best that I don't know until I was old enough to understand. Whatever that means."

While the young Martial Artists had been consulting with each other, at the same time Vegetta's and Goku's attention had been snagged and were now on the Hibiki boy and his friends, Vegetta's mainly. Something about the boys story about his mother had sparked something in his memories from his past, memories he had long since buried deep within the depths his mind. He stared at the young Hibiki boy, why did the boy give him an uneasy feeling. Goku also had his eyes on the young boy too, he had never seen the boy before either but for some reason when he looked at him he got a strange feeling inside. It was the same feeling he had gotten when his brother Raditz showed up at Roshi's house all those years ago, and when he met his youngest son Goten for the first time. So then why was he getting this feeling now?

Sensing a pair of eyes on him, Ryoga looked over his shoulder where the Son and Briefs family were sitting and noted that the two older men were staring at him. He noted that they were definitely fighters of some sort, he could tell by their muscular built bodies as well as the feel of their auras. He also noted that the shorter of the two was looking at him intently.

'What's up with that guy? Why does he keep looking at me like that?'

Ranma also noted the two men sitting behind them as well. Of course how could he not, those two as well as the teenage boy and the two little kids with them all have very strong auras. They were the strongest he'd ever felt, even stronger than the Old Freak and the Old Ghoul and quite possibly all of them put together, how could that be?

"Hey Ryoga?" Ranma whispered, "Do you feel that?"

Ryoga nodded, "Yeah I do."

The two were so preoccupied at the moment that they didn't notice that someone else had just walked into the restaurant, "Excuse me?" Came a woman's voice. "I'm looking for my son. Ryoga Hibiki."

"He's right here." Ukyo said, "Ryoga?"

Upon hearing his name Ryoga turned towards the entrance and let out a soft gasp, "Mom." He whispered, Ranma followed the Lost-Boys gaze and soon his puzzled expression turned into smile.

Kira's smile widened, "Hello Ryoga." Ryoga stood up from his chair and almost ran to his mother. Mother and son embraced each other, holding each other as tightly as they could, tears filled their eyes, "I've missed you sweetie."

"I've missed you too mom." Ryoga sniffed, not caring at all that tears were streaming down his cheeks, all that mattered now was that his mother was here with him now.

Ranma and Ukyo smiled at the happy reunion between the mother and son, after a while the two Hibikis separated, "Oh my little boy, let me look at you." She gently held her sons face in her hands, "I just can't get over how much you've changed every time I see you. My little baby's become a handsome young man now."

Ryoga's cheeks turned red when he heard snickers coming from Ranma and Ukyo, obviously they heard that, "Mom, I'm not a baby anymore."

Kira gave a warm smile, "I know that Ryoga, but no matter how old you get, you'll always be my little boy." She said, then she turned to the other teens, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends Ryoga?"

"Oh yeah, sorry." He said clearing his throat, "Well uh… mom you remember Ranma Saotome, my classmate from Junior High." He gestured to Ranma.

Kira smiled warmly, "Ranma good to see you again dear." She greeted as she hugged him.

Ranma smiled as he hugged her back, "Nice to see you again Mrs. Hibiki?" It felt strange but also nice to be hugged by a motherly figure but Ranma didn't think anything of it, he wondered if he'll ever be able to be hugged by his own mother.

Kira pulled away and examined Ranma just as she had her son, "You've also grown into a handsome young man yourself. I can't believe it's been two whole years since the two of you were in Junior High." Ranma smiled a bit sheepishly, "You two aren't still fighting are you?"

"Uhh… no, actually we're not." Ranma said.

"We patched things up between us mom and uhh… now we're friends." Ryoga finished with a small smile.

Kira nodded, "Well good. I always knew you two would end up being friends eventually." She said causing both boys to turn pink in the face, then she spotted Ukyo, "And who's this lovely young lady?"

"Mom this is Ukyo Kuonji, she owns the place and she's a friend of mine and Ranma's." Ryoga stated, "Ukyo, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Hibiki." Ukyo greeted.

Kira nodded her head in a small bow, "Nice to meet you Ukyo." Then she turned to her son, "Ryoga, why didn't you stay at the house? I was worried that you didn't get my letter when I couldn't find you there."

Ranma cleared his throat, "Uh that's my fault Mrs. Hibiki. I asked Ryoga to come here with me so that we could hang out together."

Ukyo nodded, "I'm to blame as well. We wanted to give Ryoga a pre-birthday celebration, so I asked Ran-chan… I mean Ranma to bring him to the restaurant."

Kira didn't say anything for the moment but then she smiled again, "Oh well no harm done. I'm glad to see that my son is spending time with his friends, and he's very fortunate to have good friends like you two."

"Yeah I am." Ryoga said quietly with a smile.

While the two Hibiki's rejoiced in their reunion at the same time the Briefs and Son families cleared their plates and were getting ready to leave, but for reason Vegetta had his dark eyes locked on the two Hibiki's. He couldn't understand why the Hibiki boy was boggling his brain so much until he heard the boy talk about his mother and family but he thought it was far too coincidental, that is until the boy's mother walked into the restaurant. Until he set his eyes on her the eerie familiar feeling that had been developing in his gut had increased.

'That woman, she looks just like… no, no, it can't be. It's just not possible.' He told himself.

"C'mon Vegetta were leaving." Bulma called to her husband.

Upon hearing that name made Kira gasp in alarm. When she turned her head to where Vegetta was standing she let out another gasp. Their eyes locked onto each other, unable to break contact. All at once it all became very clear to Vegetta while at the same time it alarmed Kira. She knew that she had sensed powerful energy levels when she came back to Nerima, but having to have lived in Nerima since her sons birth she didn't think anything of it. Tension started building between the two until…

"Vegetta!"

"Zukira?"

Vegetta's family, the Son family, Ranma and Ukyo all looked between the Saiyan Prince and the Hibiki matron. Bulma turned to her husband and asked, "Vegetta… you know this woman?"

"Know her?" Vegetta repeated, "We used to live together." He said only to realize that what he had said was not the best way to describe it, so he turned to his wife and said, "Not how it sounds." He insisted, "I mean that we used to live together on the same planet before and after Planet Vegetta blew up!"

Ryoga looked to his mother and asked, "Mom you know this guy?"

Kira stood infront of her son and held her arm out infront of him, as though to shield him from the man standing before her, "Ryoga, get behind me." She told him, not taking her eyes off of the Saiyan Prince, "What're you doing here Vegetta?"

"I should be asking you that Zukira." He said, "I thought you we're dead."

"Well obviously I'm not, but hearing that you thought I was dead all this time shows to me that my plan worked after all. And the name's Kira now." Kira gave a mirthless chuckle, "You know I never thought in a million years that you would find me here Vegetta, nor would I expect to find you, the All-Mighty Prince Vegetta, living on this planet amongst it inhabitants."

Ranma blinked then turned to Ryoga, "Ryoga what's going on here? What's your mom talking about?" He whispered.

"I have absolutely no idea." Ryoga said.

"Hey Trunks, isn't that the guy we've been looking for?" Goten whispered to his best friend while pointing at the Lost-Boy.

"Shh, be quiet Goten." Trunks hissed quietly.

Goku and the rest of the family were just as confused, "Uh Vegetta, I don't mean to pry but who is she and how do you know her?"

"That's what I wanna know." Said Bulma crossing her arms over her chest.

"Her name is Zukira and the reason why I know her is because as I already said we lived together on our home planet before and also after it was destroyed." Vegetta said.

"Vegetta… is she… were you two…" Bulma questioned.

"Of course not!" Bellowed Vegetta and Kira.

"Oh." Was all Bulma could say then she blinked, "Wait so that means…"

Kira lifted her gaze from Vegetta to Goku and let out another gasp for the second time today, 'That man, he looks just like… Bardock, but… no, it's not him.' She thought as she approached the confused Saiyan and looked him over from top to bottom, there was no question as to who she was looking at, "Kakarrot? My God it is you."

Goku blinked, "Uhh you know me?"

Kira nodded, "Of course I know you, I recognize that hair style of yours. It's exactly like your fathers." She smiled, "My God it's been so long, I haven't seen you since we both lived on our home planet, but look at you now, you're a grown man now."

Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes at her husband, "Goku, you know her?"

Goku knew that tone in her voice, "I… Chi-Chi I swear I've never seen her before in my life."

Kira gave a small chuckle, "Don't worry Kakarrot, I didn't expect you to remember me. After all you were only a newborn baby when we first met."

"He wouldn't remember you anyway Zukira." Barked Vegetta.

"Vegetta!" Bulma scolded.

Kira's smile vanished into a frown, "Who asked you Vegetta?"

"Mom?" Ryoga spoke, "Mom, what's going on?"

"Mom?" Vegetta repeated looking between Kira and Ryoga. As he did, he now began to understand why the boy looked so familiar. He turned to Kira, "This brat is yours Zukira?" He asked pointing to Ryoga.

"Hey who're you callin a brat?" Ryoga spoke.

Kira stepped away from Goku and back towards Ryoga, "Not that it's any of your concern Vegetta, but yes. He's my son."

Ryoga was now feeling really uneasy, "Mom what's going on? Who are these people? And what did you mean when you said 'home planet'? And why does that guy keep calling you Zukira?" He asked for he knew that that wasn't his mother's name.

"Ryoga, I can explain…"

Vegetta had kept his eye on the two and watched as the Bandanna-boy grew more and more confused, soon it became very clear, "He doesn't know, does he?" Vegetta asked Kira with a sly smile, "You haven't told him yet?"

"Haven't told me what?" Ryoga asked then turned to his mother, "Mom what's he talking about?"

Kira looked to her son and his friends and sighed, she knew this day would come but she had hoped for an easier way to tell him. Now it seems that the time has come to tell him whether she liked it or not, she only hoped that her son will take whatever she was about to tell him well, "Ryoga do you remember all those stories I used to tell you when you were little? The stories about a man and his team fighting under the orders of an evil tyrant then one day the tyrant betrayed them and killed them and their people, and the little girl the leader saved just before he died." Ryoga nodded, "Well those stories are all true, every single one of them."

Ryoga took an involuntary step back away from his mother, "What're you saying mom?"

"Ryoga… I was that little girl." She told him, "I was born on the Planet Vegetta. I am a Saiyan warrior, so was your father… and so are you my son."

Ryoga stood in utter silence, his brain was unable to grasp everything his mother had said. All of those stories his mother had told him when he was young… were real? The stories about a planet of 'space pirates' called Saiyans being ruled over by an evil tyrant, everything they did up to their destruction, and the small child that his mother had always talked about… was her, and she's one of them? It also meant that he was one of them also. Finally after what seemed like a long time, his mind went into overdrive… and he collapsed onto the wooded floor with a hard thud.

'BUUNGG!'

"Ryoga!" Cried Ranma.

"Ryoga!" Ukyo cried out, rushing from behind the counter to Ryoga's side.

Kira knelt beside her son, checking to see if he was alright. Turns out he's fine, just passed out, "Well that went well, I suppose." She muttered.

* * *

A.N. Sorry for the long wait, I made some minor changes in the previous chapters, like changing Ryoga's mother's name from 'Kyoko' to 'Kira' also a few other things. In case you don't hear from me before the year is up I'll say it now, Merry Christmas everybody and Happy New Year.


	7. Kira's or Zukira's secret revealed

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them. Zukira however is mine though.

Warning: Some characters might be O.O.C. Also this story is not for Akane fans or for Ranma/Akane fans.

' ' Means thinking.

* * *

"Ranma you stupid jerk!"

Akane was boiling mad. She was angry for a number of reasons but it all came down to just one particular reason. She had just found out from her sister Nabiki when she got home from school that Ranma had cut the last hour of school and left without a word to anyone. At first she just shook her head, why should she care if Ranma was cutting school, it's his future he's ruining not hers, but when Nabiki had said that Ukyo had cut her last class as well then she grew suspicious. Of course it didn't help the situation when Soun and Genma overheard that Ranma and Ukyo had cut school together and then babbled on about Ranma possibly eloping with Ukyo and possibly Shampoo as well.

Now she was stomping down the streets to get him because her father and Mr. Saotome kept going on and on about how it was her duty as his 'future-wife' to keep him in line and set him straight. It wasn't so much that she agreed with them and that's why she was doing this, it was because she was angry that she had to go out and fetch Ranma when she had much more important things to do then babysit her gender-changing pervert of a fiancé. Like finish her homework and go to the dojo and practice.

'Honestly just because I'm forced into this stupid engagement with that insensitive cross-dressing pervert doesn't mean that I have to spend my free time baby-sitting him.' She fumed to herself.

Her first stop was the Cat Café because she knew that Ranma always stopped by here for free ramen, but surprisingly she didn't find the Saotome heir in the restaurant. She did however find out that Shampoo and Mousse had a little run in with Ranma not too long ago and to top it off he was seen with Ryoga. Hearing that made her really hot under the collar, and to add more fuel to her rising temper was when Shampoo starting talking about how surprised she and Mousse were when they saw Ryoga's new curse and how this was a 'sort of' improvement from his old curse. This then turned into a heated discussion mainly with Akane bellowing at both of them for knowing about Ryoga's curse and not telling her, which ended with Cologne stepping in and telling the youngest Tendo how they knew and how it wasn't their place to reveal Ryoga's curse.

After Akane left the Cat Café she headed towards Ucchan's in a heated rage, 'That stupid Ranma, as soon as I find him I'm gonna beat him up so badly that he won't be able to walk for a month and if Ryoga's with him… well he's gonna wish that he'd stayed lost cause I'll kill him. I mean who does that jerk Ranma think he is, cutting the last hour of school and running off without even telling me? Oh well, just another reason for me to pummel him and that perverted swine into the ground once I get my hands on them.'

* * *

"Ah-choo, ah-choo, ah-choo! Ugh… I know that can't be good." Sniffed Ranma. He'd just finished talking on the phone with Kasumi at the Hibiki house, letting her know where he was before Akane and the others assumed the worst. But he had a feeling that it was already too late.

The Son's, the Brief's, the Hibiki's, Ranma, and Ukyo, all gathered in the living room of the Hibiki house. Ryoga's mother had severed everyone tea, milk for Goten and Trunks, and cookies. Kira… or Zukira… or whatever her name is… decided that it would be best to bring Ryoga back to their home for recuperation. Of course it looked obvious that she wasn't okay with the idea of letting Vegetta into her home, she didn't even want him anywhere near her son, unconscious or not, but in the end she sighed and gave an okay, but she would keep her eyes on the Saiyan Prince just in case he tried anything. Apparently she and the Saiyan Prince had some kind of history that much is obvious but what kind of history was on everyone's minds. After reaching the Hibiki home, it took just a half an hour before Ryoga finally regained consciousness and started asking his mother questions. It took a few minutes before she was able to calm him down again, with a little help from the family dog Checkers and her puppies.

Of course the others had questions of their own but the majority of them were the same. Who is this woman? How does she know Vegetta? What's the connection between her and Vegetta and Goku? How come Vegetta never mentioned her before? Why is she living on Earth? And more importantly, if she is what she says she is can she be trusted? Kira could sense their questions as though she could read their minds. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly, this was going to be a little tricky.

"Well Zukira, we're waiting for you to start explaining yourself." Vegetta said impatiently.

"Short tempered and impatient as always, eh Vegetta." Kira grimaced, "I see that living on Earth hasn't changed your attitude one bit, but then again just seeing you here is the last thing I'd expect."

"The feeling's mutual Zukira." Vegetta said.

"Uh mom?" Ryoga spoke, "I know I've asked this before but… what's going on here? Who are these people and why is that guy calling you 'Zukira'?" He asked pointing to Vegetta.

Kira gazed at her son, her face softened a little, she took a deep breath and sighed, "Ryoga, do you remember what I wrote in my last letter about me saying that I have something very important to tell you?" Ryoga nodded, "Well you're old enough now to know the truth. The truth that I've keeping form you since the day you were born." Everyone leaned in closer, giving the undivided attention to Mrs. Hibiki, "The reason why Vegetta there calls me 'Zukira' is because that's my real name, my Saiyan name, although I've gone by the name of Kira Hibiki for the past seventeen years."

Vegetta scoffed, "Hmph a lot of thought went into that big name change." He said which earned him an elbow to his ribs by his wife.

Kira… or rather 'Zukira' cleared her throat, "As I was saying, I was born on the planet Vegetta, a planet inhabited by planetary warriors called Saiyans. I lived there with my father Torah, my mother had died on a mission two years after I was born. There was also my Aunt Fasha, my mother's little sister, Bardock, my father's best friend and my Godfather, his family and crew who always came by to visit us." She then turned to Goku, "You know who Bardock is, don't you Kakarrot?"

Goku looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded, "Mm-hmm, I've been told that 'Bardock' was the name of my father and that I look alot like him."

Zukira nodded, "That's right, and I have to say Kakarrot that I thought you were him when I first saw you back at the restaurant because you look exactly like your father and so does your son Goten." She smiled, "You have the same hair style, same eyes, same facial structure, and even the same build. The only difference I see is that you're a bit paler then he was and you don't have his scar." She touched her left cheek to indicate where she had seen Bardock's scar, then she giggled, "My father once said that compared to you and your big brother Raditz, you resemble him in looks while Raditz resembled him in personality."

Hearing this Goku couldn't help but smile, "You really think so?"

"I do."

While the adults were consulting with each other, Ranma leaned over towards Ryoga and whispered, "Uh Ryoga, you wouldn't by any chance know what they're talking about would you?"

"Yeah Sugar, what's this weird talk about 'Saiyans'?" Asked Ukyo.

"When I was little my mom used to tell me stories about a warrior named Bardock and his crew and how they and their people were slaves to an evil tyrant." Ryoga explained, "The tyrant had struck a deal with their King and used the Saiyans to purge and eradicate other planets for his own selfish reasons. For years they served him and his minions loyally and did everything he asked them and more, but despite everything they did for him it wasn't enough, because one day he decided to kill them and their people."

Ranma nodded, "Yeah I remember your mom saying that at Ucchan's place, but why did he destroy them? I mean if they did everything he wanted them to, then why kill them?"

"It's because the tyrant was afraid of the Saiyans, at least that's what mom says." Ryoga said, "She said that the tyrant was so scared of the Saiyans because they were getting stronger with each mission they took and that more Saiyan babies were being born with incredible strength that even surpassed his weakest warriors. He was afraid that the Saiyans would rise up against him and destroy him. So he decided to wipe them all out before that could ever happen but five Saiyans had been away when it happened. One was a small infant that had been sent out to another planet but the tyrant didn't know about it, the four remaining Saiyans were forced to work for him just like their people."

"They worked for him, and he just... killed them?" Ranma said astonished.

"Yep."

"What a horrible thing to do." Ukyo said, "I mean destroying other people's planets is terrible too but… but killing the people who've worked for you for years is just… "

"ENOUGH WITH THIS SENCELESS BABBLE!" Vegetta bellowed, "GET ON WITH THE BLASTED STORY ZUKIRA!"

Bulma slapped her husband on the arm, "Vegetta don't be so rude!"

Vegetta's bellowing disturbed Checkers pups causing the pups to begin whimpering. Checkers gently nuzzled each of her babies to calm them down then she turned towards the Saiyan Prince and growled. The sound of a growling dog made Trunks cringe in his seat. Checkers wasn't a vicious dog by any means but she is protective, of her pups and her masters.

Ryoga reached down and stroked her furry head, "Shh, easy girl." Upon his touch the canine Hibiki calmed down.

Zukira glared at Vegetta, "Keep up that nasty attitude Vegetta and I'll throw your royal butt out of my house myself. And don't think I won't because you're the 'Prince of Saiyans', not that it'd do you any good here. It never did you any good then and it won't do you any good now." She said firmly. Vegetta gave an annoyed 'hmph' at the Hibiki mother, "However as much as I hate to admit it, you're right. There'll be plenty of time to explain later, if that's alright with you Kakarrot?" She said gently to Goku, who nodded his head, "Life on Vegetta was pretty much the same every day, for me it was get up, eat breakfast, go to the academy to fight and train for a six or seven hours, come home, train more, eat dinner with my father or sometimes with Raditz if he was around or sometimes alone, train some more, then bedtime."

"Sounds almost like Vegetta's everyday schedule." Bulma said, Chi-Chi nodded in agreement for she was thinking the same thing about her husband.

Zukira chuckled but then her smile faded, "Well that's how things were until everything changed for the worse. One day my father and the others were ordered to go to Planet Meat by… Frieza." She said scowling upon mentioning the name. Goku, Vegetta, and Gohan all had the same frowns on their faces, "At the time Bardock was still recovering from their last mission on Kanassa. So Torah, my father, decided that he and the others would handle the task without Bardock and took off. But then when Bardock found out about Frieza's orders he took off after them. Meanwhile a few hours later Raditz had to leave for a mission of his own, then later Kakarrot had been sent off for his first mission."

Little Goten blinked his eyes in disbelief, "They sent my dad into space when he was just a little baby?"

Zukira nodded, "They did it with all the low-class Saiyan babies. Myself included." She muttered that last part.

"But why? Why'd they do that?"

"I don't know why Goten, they just… I don't know." She said, though she did know the answer to Goten's question, she just didn't want to answer it.

"So then what happened next?" Trunks asked while munching on a cookie.

"After Kakarrot had been sent off, I was in the training chamber waiting for my next mission when I heard that Bardock had returned. So I ran out to greet him and his crew like I always do, but when I saw Bardock, alone, bleeding from head to toe, without his crew, I knew that something was wrong. He told me that it was a trap set up by Frieza, that my father and the others had been slaughtered by his henchmen. Then he told me that Frieza was on his way to blow up our home planet and everyone along with it. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it but I knew in my heart that what Bardock was telling me was the truth. He then told me to leave the planet as soon as possible. I begged him to come with me, but he refused and opted to stay and confront Frieza. I tried again to get him to come with me because I knew that he would die if he faced Frieza alone… but then… I blacked out. Bardock had knocked me out, placed me in his space pod and then launched me into space. When I regained consciousness I saw the most horrible thing that still haunts me to this day."

* * *

(Flashback)

Little Zukira moaned softly in her sleep before she finally opened her eyes, "Where… where am I?" She moaned, when her vision refocused she realized that she was inside a Saiyan space pod and that she was in space, but she had no idea where she was going. She turned her head a little ways only to feel pain shooting through head and neck, "Oww… my head." She groaned, then she started to recall what happened, that she was with her Godfather and that he told her that Frieza was coming to kill them, but then why was she here and where was Bardock? Then out of the corner of her eye she saw that the sky had become illuminated with a bright orange-yellow flash.

"What the…?"

She looked out the dome window of her spaceship and gasped in complete horror, a gigantic orb of destructive energy hovered over a black space ship belonging to Frieza then it flew towards a red planet, and not just any planet, her home planet Vegetta.

"No… No!" She cried frantically, she began banging her fists on the hatch door of her ship, as though her pleas would somehow stop the orb from colliding with her home planet. But the colossal orb of mass destruction struck and sunk into the planet causing the Planet Vegetta to rupture and then explode in a big burst of light until there was nothing but dust.

Zukira's eyes widened with horror, her mouth gapped open, she continued to stare at the place where Planet Vegetta had just been seconds ago before it finally sunk in, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOO! No please nooo!" She screamed, she lowered her head, hot tears spilling from her violet colored eyes and dropped onto the floor of her Godfather's space pod, "It can't be… it just can't be…"

But it was and the horrible truth of it all struck her as painfully as though someone had grabbed her tail in a death grip and stabbed her in the heart at the same time. Everything she had loved and cared for was now gone, leaving a gaping hole in her heart. Her family is dead and now her home planet was gone, just as Bardock had told her.

"Oh Uncle Bardock… why?" She sobbed.

Finally she curled up into a ball on the only seat inside the space pod with her tail coiled around her legs and submitting herself into a fit of uncontrollable sobbing.

* * *

(Several days after Vegetta's destruction)

Zukira had woken up some time ago inside an isolation chamber. The medical personnel's had commented at how they were relieved that she was alright, then she asked where she was and then they told her that she was in the medical ward in Frieza's ship. When she realized that she was inside Frieza's ship she was horrified then enraged, but she didn't dare let it show.

After she got cleaned up she began dressing herself, her Saiyan armor had been cleaned while she had been recovering and she was given new clothing. Any physical injuries she may have sustained may have healed but the stabbing ache in her heart would never fade away.

Her armor and underclothes resembled the armor that Bardock's crewmate Fasha wore, she also wore white knee high boots, matching gloves, and a red cloth tied on her left arm. After witnessing the destruction of her home planet and her people, Zukira noticed that the inside of her Godfather's space pod was drenched in his blood. So she pulled out a white handkerchief that her father had given her that had once belonged to her mother and then wiped up as much blood as she could until it was stained red. Now she wore it as an arm band on her left arm much like how she'd seen her father wear his, in memory of family.

While she was dressing she could hear soft muffled voices from behind the door. Just then the door opened a figure walked in, Zukira looked up at the figure standing in the doorway. It was a short obese pink-skinned alien with sharp spikes on his head and forearms, he also wore Saiyan type armor. Zukira knew him as Dodoria, one of Frieza's top elite warriors. Her violet eyes narrowed when she saw Dodoria and remembered Bardock telling her that he was the one who killed her father and the others under Frieza's orders, just looking at the disgusting pink blob made her tail twitch in angst and her blood boil with rage.

"Aw I see that you're awake." Dodoria spoke, hearing his voice made Zukira cringe with disgust, "Well come on then, Lord Frieza wishes to have an audience with you immediately, best not to keep him waiting." He grinned at her.

Zukira tightened her fists almost to the point that her fingernails could cut her palms. She wanted to knock that smug grin off of Dodoria's fat pink face, but she restrained herself and even that was hard to do. Without saying a word she nodded and followed the obese henchmen to Frieza. She didn't want to see the murderous self-serving traitor or see the smug look on his face, to her it was like rubbing salt on an open wound, but what other choice did she have? Finally they arrived at Frieza's chamber, where the cold ruthless tyrant sat waiting in his black hovercraft, his back towards the door, with his other top elite warrior, Zarbon. A tall, very handsome looking man with long braided green hair and light blue skin stood beside his master, he wore Saiyan type armor along with his master and all of Frieza's men. He also wore earrings and an elegant looking tiara on his forehead.

As much as she hated to do so Zukira went down on one knee and bowed her head, she didn't want to look at either of them, least of all the murderous tyrant before her.

Dodoria stood on the other side of his master and gave a slight bow, "Lord Frieza, I've brought the girl just as you commanded."

"Thank you Dodoria." Frieza spoke before turning to face the young Saiyan girl kneeling before him, "And whom might you be child?"

Zukira could feel his cold soulless eyes locked onto her but she willed herself not to look up, "My… my name is Zu… Zukira… M… Master Frieza." Just saying those two horrible words and hearing his voice made her sick to her stomach.

Freiza gazed suspiciously at the small child, "Young child, why don't you look at me when addressing me?"

'Because I don't want to look at your ugly face, that's why you murdering bastard.' She thought angrily, "Forgive me… Master Frieza for I mean no disrespect but I was always told to bow in the presence of a superior power for I'm just a… low-level."

Frieza gave a pleased smile, "Heh, heh well it's nice to see that someone among your race of monkeys has been taught proper manners." Frieza chuckled, hearing his laugh made Zukira's stomach churn but the monkey insult made her even angrier.

Within the next hour or so Frieza had informed Zukira of the 'tragedy' that had befallen on her home planet. He told her how her home planet was struck and destroyed by an asteroid and that only she, Prince Vegetta, Nappa, and Raditz were the only known survivors. Although Zukira knew the real truth of what happened to her home planet, she had to play it out that she didn't know. They seemed to buy into her acting though her tears were real because she was still hurting inside. Though Zukira couldn't see his face she could hear the self-satisfaction in his voice. The real challenge was when Frieza had asked her why she was on Planet Qwaunt, a planet that had already been eradicated by Frieza's men. She thought real hard on what to say then told the murderous tyrant that she was told of a rumor that some Qwauntians had escaped and then returned to take back their planet and that she'd been sent to… exterminate them.

"When it was over I only had enough strength to make it to my space pod and then… I passed out." She said, hoping that Frieza would accept her story.

"Hmm is that so?" Zukira nodded, "I heard about that rumor and was going to let it slide. Those Qwauntians were hardly worth my time to begin with but their planet did fetch a good price in the end. Well it's lucky for you that I had my men scouting that area and that they found you when they did and brought you back here. Otherwise you'd be dead now."

'It would've been a nice reprieve if they had left me.'

Frieza then turned away from her, "Very well then, you may leave now."

"Yes sir." Zukira said before existing Frieza's chamber.

As soon as the door had closed behind her she ran down the halls as fast as her legs could go, wanting to get as far away from Frieza as she possibly could. She ran down the hall, through the doors until she found a vacant room. She shut the door behind her and walked over to the other end of the room. The young Saiyan leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, she tried to get control of her breathing but she just couldn't, everything hurt so much. Finally she couldn't take the pain anymore and she just broke down and sobbed.

(End Flashback)

* * *

Zukira took in a long breath to calm herself, "On that day, my whole world had collapsed. In one fell swoop Frieza had taken my family and my home and destroyed them both which left a gaping hole in my heart." She said her voice breaking with every word. Remembering those awful memories always brought tears to her eyes but she strongly willed herself not to cry.

Ryoga felt his mother's pain and placed his left hand on top of his mother's hand in her lap to comfort her. He remembered his mother telling him that story when he was younger and remembered feeling a slight twinge in his heart when she finished the story, like there was some kinda… special connection between him and the brave warrior in his mother's story. Now he didn't know what to feel.

Zukira glanced at her son and then smiled. She remembered how his father always held her hand whenever she was upset about something and how it made her feel better, but those days were in the past. She felt a nudge on her leg and saw that Checkers was trying to comfort her too. She squeezed Ryoga's hand in appreciation, "Thank you sweetie." Ryoga nodded, "You too Checkers." She said scratching the dog behind the ears.

Chi-Chi, Bulma, and Ukyo had tears in their eyes, neither of them could even imagine how horrible it must've been to first lose your family and then witness the death and destruction of your home and your race, and at such a young age. Vegetta didn't say a word but he looked bothered by Zukira's story. Ranma, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were mute, neither knew what to say or feel at the moment.

Goku felt a stab of pain in his heart as he looked at Zukira, his own dark eyes filled with empathy and grief. He could feel her pain just by looking in her eyes. He didn't know what to say, he'd already heard the story of how Frieza had enslaved the Saiyan race and forced them to do his dirty work for him and how he destroyed their planet and their race, but he'd never heard it so sadly from someone who actually saw the whole catastrophe with their own eyes after they were saved by another Saiyan warrior. And that Saiyan who saved her was his own father. It immediately gave him another new respect for father.

The Earth-raised Saiyan kept his eyes on Zukira while she told her story but every now and then he would glance over at her son Ryoga and just stare at him. He didn't know why but there was something about the boy that he just couldn't put his finger on. He shook his head, he knew that the answer would come soon.

"My father tried to stop Frieza all by himself?" Goku asked and Zukira nodded, "Didn't anyone help him or at least try to help him?"

Zukira shook her head, "No, he tried to warn everyone of the oncoming danger, but they didn't believe him, in fact they laughed at him. They mocked him. They thought that he'd gone crazy because he lost his crew." She scowled casting her eyes down to the floor, "Stupid idiots."

"Wait a minute!" Vegetta spoke, "Zukira if you knew all this time that it was Frieza who destroyed our home planet then why didn't you ever say anything when we were forced to serve him? More importantly, how the hell did that low-class scum Bardock find out about Frieza's plan to destroy our home planet?"

"Don't you ever talk about Bardock that way!" Zukira bellowed angrily, "Bardock and his crew may have been branded as low-levels since the day they were born, but they were anything but low-levels! They were far better and stronger than any of the King's elite warriors and those that had the nerve to call themselve elites. Including Frieza's lackeys, and they were even better than you Vegetta." She said coldly.

Everyone, including Vegetta, moved away from the outraged female Saiyan. Even Ryoga inched away from his mother in terror, he'd never seen his mother look so angry before, not even when she issued a spanking to him when he was little. Her eyes which were always full of warmth and caring were now full of angry flames of spite and her aura was now radiated heated anger. Ryoga was now a little terrified of his mother. The feeling was shared with Ranma and Ukyo.

Zukira took a few calming breaths before going on, "And in answer to your question as to how he found out…tch, wouldn't you love to know. And the answer to your other question as to why I never told anyone, who pray tell was I supposed to tell, you pompous idiot? You? Nappa?" She gave a mirthless chuckle, "Like you or that muscle-bound idiot Nappa would ever listen to a 'low-level' like me Vegetta. In fact the only time you ever acknowledged me was when you found out that I'm the last living female Saiyan and when I became of age to mate and produce offspring!"

"Vegetta!" Bulma said firmly, her eyes narrowing at her husband. Vegetta didn't say a word in his defense, probably because there was nothing he could say in his defense that wouldn't lead to him getting scolded by his wife.

"Hey Trunks, what do 'mate' and 'produce offspring' mean?" Goten whispered.

"How should I know?" Trunks whispered back.

"Well you're the smart one, I thought you would know."

"Just because my family is full of geniuses doesn't mean that I know everything Goten."

"Then how come you keep telling everybody that you know everything if you really don't know everything?"

Trunks could only face-palm himself, he knew that it was pointless to continue arguing with Goten. The youngest Son maybe his best friend but he's such a child.

Gohan overheard their conversation and cleared his throat, "Uh… Goten, Trunks, I don't think those are things that either of you need to know about until you're both a little older." He said before turning back to Zukira.

Ukyo cleared her throat and asked, "So what happened after that Mrs. Hibiki?"

Everyone's eyes were locked on Zukira again, "After 'learning' about what happened to our home Planet, Frieza offered to let us stay on his base planet if we agreed to work for him, again. We had no choice but to agree. From there Frieza would order Vegetta, Nappa, and Raditz to conquer and purge whatever planets he wanted. As for me… he made me stay on the base planet or on his ship to work as a servant girl. Although there were a few occasions when he'd let me accompany Vegetta and the others on their missions, but I chose to observe not participate."

"Why'd you do that?" Chi-Chi asked, "If you didn't want to participate in the purging then why did you go with them?"

Vegetta decided to answer, "Because after the destruction of our planet Zukira was not living up to her Saiyan heritage as Nappa, Raditz and myself were, all she ever did was mope. So I asked Frieza to let her accompany us on our missions. But even that didn't snap her out of her sorrowful mood. She wouldn't even help with the clean-up duty."

"Well excuse me if I was never the cold merciless S.O.B type like you and Nappa. I told you why I didn't want to do any of the missions that Frieza assigned us because I hate killing, but as always you never listened!" Zukira snapped.

"You never had a problem with the sparring sessions Zukira."

"Sparring is one thing, but killing innocent people and their entire race in cold blood for their planet is a completely different story." Zukira argued, Vegetta opened his mouth to say something but Zukira cut him off, "And don't even start with me on the whole 'Saiyan Pride' speech Vegetta. Your pride as well as Frieza's presences alone was enough to make me sick." She said.

Goku blinked, "Wow, you and Vegetta don't really get along very well do you Zukira?"

"No we don't, never have and probably never will." She said narrowing her eyes at the Saiyan Prince, who had the same look in his dark eyes.

"Would you care to explain why that is?" Bulma asked, "Did he… do something to you?"

"You mean besides him and Nappa helping Frieza and his freaks turn every day of my life into a living hell because I'm a low-level warrior?" She replied sarcastically, "I have a list of reasons why I despise Vegetta but to make a long story short, I could never stand to be around him mainly because he's an arrogant, boorish, egotistical, self-important, selfish little pampered palace brat who only cares about becoming the most powerful warrior in the entire universe. Pun intended."

Ranma gave a slight whistle, "Wow, and I thought Akane was harsh when it comes to name calling."

"You're not too far off yourself at times Ranma." said Ryoga.

"And even after our home planet was destroyed he didn't even plan to avenge our people because he only cared about himself and getting stronger so that he'll be the one to destroy Frieza and rule over the universe and blah, blah, blah, blah, not to mention listening to him ramble on and on about becoming a 'Super Saiyan' was enough to drive any sane person crazy."

"I can vouch for that." Bulma said.

Ukyo turned to Ryoga and asked, "What's a Super Saiyan Ryoga?"

"It's some kinda legend that the Saiyans believed in, about a golden warrior with indescribable power. But no one had really seen one in over a thousand years, at least that's what mom says." Ryoga whispered back.

Vegetta turned to Zukira with a proud smirk on his face, "Say what you want Zukira but the legend of the Super Saiyan is real. In fact you're looking at five Super Saiyans right now." He said indicating himself, Goku, and their sons, "And I have become a Super Saiyan just like I said I would and it was that that led Frieza to his defeat. He was beaten by a Super Saiyan, just like I said he would be." He said proudly.

Zukira blinked in surprise, 'So Frieza really is dead? I felt it in my soul that he was but I wasn't sure, but now… so then that means that it's true…' She cleared her throat, "I never doubted that Frieza would meet his end by a Saiyan but I know damn well that it wasn't you who defeated Frieza Vegetta," She cast her eyes over to Goku, "but that it was Kakarrot who put an end to his tyranny once and for all." The Sons and the Briefs all blinked in shock at what they'd just heard, even Ryoga gave his mother a puzzled look.

"What?" Vegetta said in shock, "And how in the seven layers of hell do you know that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, and for the record I never said that I didn't believe in the legend Vegetta. I just got tired of hearing you go on and on about it nonstop for fifteen straight years. If I had to listen to you go on about becoming a Super Saiyan so that you'll beat Frieza and take over the universe one more time, I was gonna rip your stupid head off just to shut you up!"

"Where've I heard that one before?" Ranma snickered glancing at Ryoga.

"Shut up Ranma." Ryoga muttered which only made Ranma and Ukyo snicker even more.

'Wow I always knew that Vegetta has a knack for putting people down and pissing people off but… damn.' Gohan thought.

Vegetta was utterly speechless. He had no idea that Zukira felt that way about him, he knew that she never liked him but he never knew that she hated him that much, but the big question was how in the world did Zukira know about Frizea's downfall when she wasn't even there when it happened? And how did she know that it was Kakarrot who defeated him? Was she physic or something? He didn't know but he was going to find out one way or another but for now he just crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.

Bulma was trying really hard not to laugh, this was the first time that anyone had ever rendered Vegetta speechless, well besides Goku. She could remember those days when her husband would go on and on about becoming the strongest fighter in the world and defeating Goku but after the whole Majin Buu mess he seemed to finally mellow out and let it go. Which was good for all of them.

Goku was watching with mixed emotions. It was strange to see someone other then Bulma give their opinion about him without worrying about concequeces or Vegett'a anger, and yet he also found it amusing too. And there was something else that was nagging at him, and it wasn't the voice of his wife. Some parts of Zukira's story were starting to sound familiar to him, not just the part about Frieza and the destruction of their planet. He had a good idea what it was but he didn't want to jump the gun until he was sure.

"So uh… Zukira, what's the story between you and my brother Raditz?" Goku asked curiously, "I noticed that when you mentioned him earlier that you weren't as harsh as you are towards Vegetta."

"That's because unlike Vegetta and some people, Raditz never treated me like something he found on the bottom of his boot." She said turning to glare at Vegetta.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe." Gohan mumbled under his breath.

"What was that Gohan?"

"Nothing."

"Anyways to answer your question Kakarrot Raditz was my best friend, we've been friends since we started training together on our home planet." She said with a small smile, "We stayed friends even after we were forced to serve Frieza. I can honestly say that had it not been for Raditz being there, I don't think I would've survived being in Frieza's captivity for so long. He at one point said the same thing about me, that me being there with him gave him the strength to go on. And throughout the years we continued to see each other in secret, away from prying eyes. It was almost like it was before on our home planet, first we'd spar and train together then we'd talk afterwards. As the years passed our friendship grew stronger and stronger, until we…" Zukira's cheeks turned red.

"You what?" Goten and Trunks chimed curiously.

"They fell in love." Vegetta said bluntly, his face was contorted into a frown. Though he didn't know why he was bothered by it.

"You… and Raditz… together?" Bulma spoke astounded while pointing the tips of her index fingers together. Zukira nodded Bulma's eyes grew wider, "So did you guys…" She made another hand signal this time by hooking her index fingers together and again Zukira nodded.

Goten tilted his head to one side before turning to his brother, "Hey Gohan, I don't get it. What does this mean?" He asked making the same hand signal that Bulma had done.

"It's just another way of saying that… they got married." Gohan said looking shocked and uneasy.

"Oh, then why didn't she just say so?"

"You married Raditz?" Goku asked.

Zukira nodded, "By Saiyan terms we are 'mated'. It still means we're husband and wife, just by Saiyan standards. Raditz and I mated on planet Pandora, the most beautiful planet that I've ever seen. Well next to Earth of course." She smiled reaching up and gently caressed her necklace with her fingers tips. She also glanced out the window, the sun was starting to set, 'It's almost time.'

"Hey Vegetta, how come you never told me that Raditz was married?" Goku asked bewildered.

Vegetta shrugged, "Must've slipped my mind."

Everyone's bewildered expressions grew wider the second the news had sunk in, for Goku the news of that hit him as though Vegetta had just punched him in the gut, really hard. He could not believe it, Raditz, his own brother, had a wife? And she's sitting right in front of him right now! Which also means… he has a sister and a…

"But wait, if you and Raditz married… then… that means… that you and I are…" Goku looked over at Ryoga who had the same bewildered expression as everyone else, "And your son is..."

Zukira nodded, "Yes Kakarrot. Raditz is my husband, therefore you and I are brother and sister in-law, and my son is your nephew." She said calmly.

"WHAT!" Everyone cried out.

"I have a nephew and a sister-in-law?"

"Goku has a… a nephew? A… and a sister-in-law?" Bulma and Chi-Chi stuttered, Chi-Chi looked close to fainting but managed to keep herself together, "But wait… that means that Gohan and Goten… have a cousin."

Gohan and Goten looked at each other, "We have a cousin?"

Ukyo and Ranma turned to Ryoga, "You have cousins?"

"I have cousins?" Ryoga exclaimed in alarm, he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take, he looked at his mother and pointed at Goku, "And he's my uncle?"

"Ryoga don't point." Zukira told her son, "And yes this is your Uncle Kakarrot, your father's little brother."

'That kid is Raditz's son?' Vegetta thought as he did a full scan on Ryoga with his eyes, though he could see some similarities he still couldn't believe it, "I don't believe it!" He said drawing everyone's attention to him, "What proof do you have to prove that this isn't a lie Zukira?"

"Lie?" Zukira repeated, "Don't be stupid Vegetta! Why would I lie about a thing like that?"

"Hmph, for starters the kid doesn't even look like a Saiyan like Kakarrot and myself. He doesn't even look half Saiyan like our boys do." Vegetta stated glancing at Ryoga then back at Zukira, "Hell you don't even look the same Zukira."

"Well that was the point when I left and arrived on Earth you idiot. I wanted to make extra sure that my son and I blended in with the inhabitants because I didn't want to risk Frieza, or you for the matter, finding us. So a year after Ryoga was born I took him to a temple in the Fuji mountains, where a monk placed a powerful charm on me and my son. The charm bounded most of our Saiyan abilities but not all of them and changed our appearance, making us look like ordinary humans."

Vegetta blinked, "Why go through all that trouble when all you really had to do was cut off your tails and that would be it."

'Tails?' Ranma, Ryoga, and Ukyo wondered, without knowing why Ryoga looked over shoulder at his backside but he didn't see any tail, much to his relief.

"I couldn't take any chances. I knew that if you or Frieza got wind that I was still alive and with child, then you'd come after me and try to kill me and my baby."

Vegetta gave a light scoff, though he had to admit that what Zukira had said was a reasonable explanation and in some ways the truth, "Well that explains that, but answer me this Zukira. If you and Raditz loved each other so much then why did you leave him?"

"I didn't leave him! If anything he was the one who broke up with me!"

Everyone blinked in surprise at that bit of news, even Vegetta looked surprised but he quickly shook it off, "What do you mean? What happened?" Goku asked.

Zukira took a deep breath to calm herself, "The last time I saw Raditz was on Frieza's planet base when he, Vegetta, and Nappa had just came back from one of the Omega planets, I forget which one. Raditz told me to meet him by the waterfall where the space pods would launch out of. I went there and waited like he told me to and when he got there I knew that something was wrong because he looked troubled but he wouldn't tell me why. All he said was that we never should've gotten together, that it was all a mistake, and that he didn't want anything to do with me anymore. And then… he… he turned… and walked away. I called out to him…but he didn't even look back and continued to walk away. After that… he wouldn't even talk to me… or look at me." She sniffed, tears brimming in her eyes.

The room stood silent, no one knew what to say. Gohan had curled his hands into fists, trying to maintain his anger, 'I can't believe it. I knew that Raditz was evil but how could he do something so… so…' He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, "So he just broke up with you, without so much as a reason why?" He said in angry disbelief.

"No and to this day I still haven't figured out why it ended between us."

"Do you know why Vegetta?" Goku asked.

"Why would I know anything about what happened between them, Kakarrot?" Vegetta asked, "I was under the impression that she dumped Raditz."

"Well didn't you ever ask?" Vegetta didn't answer, he only raised an eyebrow at Goku's question, which was his way of saying 'no'. Then he turned back to Zukira with another question, "Uh… Zukira, did Raditz even know that you were pregnant?"

Zukira sniffed, "No he didn't and I never told him because I didn't even know, at least not until after the ambush."

"Ambush?" Everyone chimed.

Zukira nodded, "After Raditz… broke up with me, the next day he, Vegetta, and Nappa wore ordered to take another mission and took off. Meanwhile Frieza gave me an assignment of my own on planet Zultar. Little did I know that it was a trap, set up by Frieza himself."

"And you didn't find that the least bit suspicious before you took the assignment?" Vegetta questioned.

"Vegetta you try thinking straight after having your heart stabbed by an ice dagger then ripped out by the one you've loved for so long. Metaphorically speaking that is." She added as she grimaced at Vegetta.

'I know how that feels.' Ryoga and Ukyo both thought.

"I fought for as long and hard as I could. I managed to defeat most of the men Frieza had sent to kill me but not without sustaining some injuries of my own, but then just when I thought the worst was over, it got a whole lot worse. Dodoria, Frieza's top elite warrior, had been also sent to kill me, the same fat pink bastard that killed my father and my family. Out of furious rage I blasted him with everything I had but nothing worked, he was too strong for me. Dodoria then blasted me with a few energy attacks, I managed to avoid all but one. The next thing I knew there was a bright yellow blast heading straight for me and it engulfed me. I can still remember the scorching pain of the attack, like someone had thrown me into a pool of liquid fire." She shuddered, "I don't know how I survived the attack but when I woke up… Dodoria was gone and I was left for dead. I guess I should be glad that Dodoria wasn't always thorough with his jobs. As I laid there on the ground battered and bruised, there was a moment where I had lost all hope. Then something very strange happened, something that I can't really explain what, but it was as though someone was talking to me in my mind. It helped put the hope back in my heart and encouraged me to continue to live, not just for myself… but for my baby as well. That's how I found out that I was going to be a mother."

"But what was it?" Asked Chi-Chi.

"I believe that it was an angel that came to me and helped me through that darkest era of my life." Zukira smiled glancing at her son then back to the others, "With little strength I had left I made it to my space pod, which thank goodness was still intact and where I'd left it, I entered the coordinates for Earth and took off. Three months later I landed on this planet and I was found by the Hibiki's, Naria and Shin. They were both wonderful people, they took me in, treated my wounds and let me stay with them. Then after Ryoga was born they treated him as though he were their own grandson."

"Mom… did Grandma Naria and Grandpa Shin know about this? About us being…" Ryoga hesitated, he couldn't bring himself up to finish his sentence.

"From outer space?" Zukira finished for her son, though she knew that that wasn't exactly what her son was going to say, "Of course they knew."

Ryoga blinked in disbelief, "You mean… you told them?"

"I didn't have to tell them, they already knew from the start because they were the ones who found me when I landed on this planet."

"So then how come you never told me any of this until now?" Ryoga asked sounding angry.

"Would you have believed me if I had told you Ryoga?" Zukira argued calmly. Ryoga opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out, "I wanted to wait until you were old enough to understand why I never told you, that I did it to protect you."

"Protect me?"

"Yes because I knew that if Frieza ever found out that I was having a baby then he would kill me. Even if Frieza allowed me to let me have you there was a good chance that he would take you away and kill me afterwards." She said, "At any case I didn't want you to live the same way that your father, myself, and our people had to. As a merciless slave to Frieza, that's why I came to Earth so that you could live without fear, away from Frieza and Vegetta as well."

"Why from me?"

"What do you think Vegetta?" She said sarcastically.

Ryoga was just as awestruck as everyone else. For a moment he thought that this was some kinda cruel joke or something but when he looked at his mother and saw the looks in her eyes, he knew that she was being serious and that this wasn't a joke. He looked up at Goku and his family, his uncle, aunt, and two cousins. He'd felt something weird when he'd first saw Goku at Ukyo's but he just thought it was because of his strong ki. Now he didn't know what to think or if he really believed that he was related to this guy. Also he didn't know why but he was suddenly itching for a fight, the feeling made his blood burn, his heart race, and his bones tingle to the core. He didn't know why he was feeling this way but he was, and for some reason his tailbone was starting to itch.

Goku was still in complete shock. Of course he and everyone else were still astonished to learn that there was a surviving female Saiyan living on Earth for almost two decades now, but to learn that she married his brother Raditz, which makes her his sister-in-law, and they had a kid together was a complete bombshell for him. Chi-Chi, Gohan, and Goten all had the same expression as him.

'Huh well that explains a lot.' Ukyo thought in her head.

Ranma was shocked as well but he kept it well hidden, 'Man I can't believe it, all this time I've been fighting and hanging out with an alien? But wait, Ryoga doesn't look like an alien. I mean I've always joked around about Ryoga not being human and everything but I never imagined that he could be an alien from outer space.' He looked up at Vegetta and Goku, 'That 'Vegetable' guy says the he and that Kaka-whatshisname are those Saiya-things but they don't look like aliens. Not unless you count the gravity-defying hair styles and their strong ki, but then again who knows.'

"But mom I don't understand how we can be aliens when… we don't even look like aliens."

Zukira raised an eyebrow, "Well what does an alien look like son?"

"I don't know… big black ugly bug-like monsters with big long heads and green acid for blood, or green men with big heads and antennas. Stuff like that."

"Hey how does he know about Piccolo?" Trunks asked his best friend quietly. Goten shrugged and grunted 'I don't know.'

Zukira couldn't help but giggle, "Have you been watching 'Aliens' again Ryoga?" She asked which made Ryoga blush slightly, 'Though I have to admit that those movie aliens do resemble those Cicadans bugs on Cica 3, only not as ugly.' She cleared her throat, "Well we may not resemble what Earthlings consider 'typical aliens' but everything I'm saying is the truth Ryoga. That you and I are Saiyans, the last few remaining Saiyans alive." Then she turned to Vegetta, "Speaking of which where are Nappa and Raditz anyway?"

The room became quiet once again as though the world had been put on mute, the Sons and the Briefs, save Goten and Trunks, seemed uncomfortable for some reason. Goku didn't know if he should actually tell his newly discovered sister-in-law and nephew the truth about Raditz being dead and has been dead for a long time and that he'd helped kill him. Finally it was Vegetta who answered.

"They're dead. They've been dead for over a decade."

Both Hibiki's were taken aback by Vegetta's blunt answer, Zukira more so then Ryoga. Zukira couldn't believe what she just heard. Though truthfully she didn't really care much that Nappa was dead but the news about Raditz being dead tore at her heart, 'So... Raditz… really is dead?' She placed a hand over her heart, 'I knew I felt something all those years ago but... I hoped that it wasn't what I thought it was.' She reached up and clutched her necklace again, 'Oh Raditz, what happened to you?'

Ryoga didn't know how to feel to the news or about this whole thing, but now the question in his mind was how his father died, "How?"

"Nappa's dead because I killed him. As for Raditz, he was killed on a mission." Vegetta said simply. For some reason he didn't have the heart to tell Zukira and her boy the truth about Raditz's death, that he was killed by his own brother. He just told it like it was because that's what happened, Raditz was killed while he was on a mission to recruit his little brother. If anything he felt that it should be Kakarrot who tells them what really happened.

Ranma had been listening to everything with rapt attention but there was something that he wanted to know, no doubt Ryoga and Ukyo felt the same way, "Umm Mrs. Hibiki, you mentioned earlier that a monk placed a charm on you and Ryoga to make you look… uhh normal. Is that why you and Ryoga always get lost and stuff?"

"Ranma." Ukyo scolded smacking Ranma on the head.

Zukira's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, "Why… yes actually." This formed a question mark on everyone's heads, "The monk's charm worked in rendering Ryoga and I as earthlings, but it worked a little too well. Whenever I would go outside to get the mail or to the store, it would take me twice as long or longer to get back and it only got worse as time went on for both me and my son."

"Couldn't you have gone back to the temple and get the monk to take the charm off or at least fix it?" asked Chi-Chi.

Zukira shook her head, "No, because before he placed the charm on us he told me that once it was on he couldn't remove it, as for fixing it… well there wasn't anything he could do. I asked him how long would the charm last and he said that the charm would wear off on the eve of Ryoga's seventeenth year at sunset. Which I thought it meant that the charm would wear off in seventeen years when Ryoga turns eighteen, but I was mistaken. Instead of it wearing off when Ryoga turns eighteen, like I thought, it'll actually wear off on the eve of his seventeenth birthday." She said glancing outside the window again.

"And when's that?" asked Gohan.

"Tonight actually, in less than five minutes." She said.

"And what happens then." Asked Trunks.

"The monks charm will break, and Ryoga and I will return to our original Saiyan forms." She said simply.

Almost simultaneously everyone looked out the living room window, the sun was almost completely set and it won't be long before it would be completely down. Time seemed to slow down with each passing second, Ryoga however was wishing that he were somewhere else rather than here. He always hated being the center of attention. He could feel his heart beating harder and harder in his chest with every breath he took, he hadn't felt this anxious since he confessed to Akane about the whole P-chan mess. Yet at the same time a small part of him was also… excited, why that was he didn't know.

Everyone watched as the sun sank lower and lower until it had completely set, as soon as light providing star had vanished there was a duet of sharp gasps and thuds. They all turned towards the two Hibiki's who were both on their knees on the floor doubled over in pain.

"Ryoga! Mrs. Hibiki!" Ukyo cried in worry as she and Ranma stood up and rushed to their sides.

Goku, acting on instinct, also stood up and rushed over to the Hibiki mother and son. He could feel that they were both hurting, but he didn't know what to do.

Ryoga bit his lip, trying to fight the pain, his sharp fangs pierced the skin and blood trickled down the corners of his mouth, "Augh… mom… what's happening…"

"The spell… is wearing off."

"But why… why does it hurt so much?"

"I… I don't know…" She gasped as another wave of pain hit her and Ryoga.

Ryoga felt as though his insides were on fire and that his head slitting. He'd never felt so much pain before. Everything seemed to come to his senses louder and clearer than ever before. He could feel his body changing, his senses becoming clearer and sharper, and himself becoming stronger, it felt as though a heavy pressure that had been pushing him down all his life had just been lifted off of him. He also felt a strange tingling sensation in his backside. It didn't hurt, but it wasn't very pleasant either.

Zukira was leaning against Goku for support. She could feel the charm growing weaker as her Saiyan powers returned to her, strengthening her, filling her with energy, it was a feeling that she'd missed and secretly longed for so long while under the monks charm.

The Son family, the Briefs, Ranma and Ukyo watched as the Hibiki mother and son began changing. Zukira's long black hair burst from its braid and became spiky while Ryoga's hair grew longer and became spiky as well. Ryoga's body became bulkier as his muscles grew and became more cut, almost ripping his new shirt, Zukira's muscles grew slightly and tightened. There was the sound of cloth ripping as a brown tail sprouted from Ryoga's pants.

A white hazy energy forms around both mother and son, then without warning Ryoga and Zukira straightened up, still on their knees, and both let out a loud howl of pain. When they did a small shockwave was expelled shattering the misty energy surrounding them as though it were glass, shards of energy broke away and dissolved into nothing. As quickly as the pain came, it was gone and both mother and son collapsed in exhaustion panting heavily. The monks charm on the Hibikis was broken.

* * *

A.N. Sorry for the long wait for an update. This chapter's been kicking my butt, plus this year has not been a good one for me. I hope you all like it.


	8. A mothers love

Title: The Lost Saiyan Warrior

Disclaimer: I don't own the DragonBall Z characters or the Ranma characters. I'm only borrowing them. Zukira however is mine though.

Warning: Some characters might be O.O.C. Also this story is not for Akane fans or for Ranma/Akane fans.

' ' Means thinking.

A.N. I just want to point some things out before you read this chapter.

1. A few reviewers had kept asking why Zukira and Ryoga's girl-form had blue hair and taken the liberty to inform me that all pure Saiyans have 'black' hair. Well that much is true, most of the Saiyans we've seen on the show have black hair, but I have re-watched the DBZ series, the GT series, and the movies and noticed that some of the female Saiyans, that didn't really have a big role in the series or movies, do have different colored hair. In the movie Bardock, the father of Goku, Bardock's crewmate Fasha has brown hair, and when Bardock stumbles in the bar to warm the other Saiyans of Frieza's plot there was a female Saiyan in there and she had blue hair. In the beginning of the Saiyan Saga where Raditz is explaining to Goku and his friends about the Saiyans we briefly see a female Saiyan with blonde hair. And when King Kai is explaining the history about the Saiyans to Goku, in the flashback there's a female Saiyan holding a knife in her teeth and she has red hair. (At least that's what it looks like) Therefore I think that all the male Saiyans have black hair whereas some of the females have colored hair as well as black hair. But if it makes you all feel better I went back and changed their hair color to black. Happy?

2. Some of you have asked why I gave Ryoga a girl form. (Ch.5) Well for this story Ryoga needs a form that won't render him completely 'helpless' so to speak, even though I love P-Chan, the little pig had to go, sorry.

3. Finally, the whole thing about what happened between Raditz and Zukira will be explained later in the story. I know that Saiyans are very loyal to their mates once they've mated but there's a very good reason as to why they split apart, I just couldn't say why cause I can't give everything away all at once, where would the fun be if I did that? Also yes Ryoga is a pure Saiyan, not a half Saiyan, and he is Goku's nephew. If some of you have a problem with that… well T.S. cause I'm not changing it.

* * *

Zukira gazed lovingly at her son as he slept. The change had taken its toll on both her and Ryoga, for Zukira it felt like the after affects of the Great Ape transformation, leaving her sore and drained. For Ryoga, he was out like a light. The Hibiki mother declared that it was best to let him sleep it off. After her son was taken care of and placed in his room, the female Saiyan offered the Sons and Briefs to stay the night as opposed to staying in a motel. Even though it's very clear that there's a lot of tension between her and Vegetta.

After saying goodbye to Ranma and Ukyo, she showed everyone where they'd be staying and bade them goodnight.

Though it was late and she knew that she should be resting, she just had to check on her son before turning in for the night. She looked down at her son again, he was the perfect combination of both her and Raditz. He took after her in looks and inherited her hair style but he had his father's eyes, nose, and bits of his personality traits. Part of her couldn't believe that it's already been nearly eighteen years since she faked her death and escaped to Earth. Then months after landing on Earth, her son was born.

Then she thought about Raditz, Vegetta said that he died while on a mission thirteen years ago, that just made her heart clench. It's been eighteen years since she'd last seen Raditz. Eighteen long years. Yet despite everything that happened between them, she never stopped thinking about the long-haired Saiyan. How could she? He'd been her best friend since early childhood, her sparring partner, and her partner in crime when they were kids. He gave her strength to get through those hell-filled days on Frieza's ship and in return she'd do the same for him. They made sure to hide their feelings from everyone, even from Vegetta and Nappa, before and after they became mates.

She reached up and gently rubbed the back of her neck, a shiver went through her, 'Raditz. What happened between us? Was it something I did?' She'd asked that question over and over again and she knew that it will remain unanswered.

Her hand came down and touched her necklace, her thumb gently caressing the smooth surface of the gemstone that rested an inch below the indent between her collarbone. Her necklace was a beautiful deep purple gem that resembled her eye color with a gold chain. It was the one of her most cherished treasures, next to her son. She felt a nudge on her leg, she looked down at Checkers and smiled as she stroked the two-toned canines head, assuring the canine Hibiki that she was alright.

She gently brushed Ryoga's long bangs from his face just as she had always done and kissed his forehead, "My boy." She whispered, "My little Ryo-chan." Then Checkers started growling and her smile vanished, "You know, it's not polite to spy on people in their own home Vegetta." She said without turning around.

"Hmph, I see that you've learned to sense power-levels without a scouter." Vegetta commended standing in the doorway.

"I could always tell it was you even before I learned to sense energies. You tend to leave more than just an impression on people." She said.

Tension was already starting to build in the room between the two.

Vegetta stepped into the room behind the Saiyan mother while ignoring the growling dog, "I can't believe that you've been alive all this time and you've been living on Earth this whole time."

"You're one to talk, Vegetta." She countered looking over her shoulder, her tail slowly twitching behind her, "You're the last person I would've thought to want to live on Earth after Frieza was finally gone. What's the matter, traveling through deep space proved too much for you or did you just get sick of it?"

Vegetta grimaced, "My reasons are mine alone."

"Of course they are." She said calmly. She gently patted Checkers on the head which ceased her growling but the dog watched the Saiyan Prince carefully while keeping herself between him and her masters.

"Speaking of Frieza, how the hell did you know that it was that clown Kakarrot that defeated Frieza and not me?" Vegetta asked abruptly while keeping his eyes on the female Saiyan.

"What does it matter how I knew? Frieza's dead and in Hell where he belongs, along with the rest of his lackeys too."

"But how do you know he's dead when you weren't even there?"

Zukira chuckled softly, "You wouldn't believe me even if I were to explain how I knew."

Vegetta was getting annoyed, "Just answer my question woman!"

"Keep your damn voice down! Are you trying to wake the dead as well as my son?" Zukira grimaced at the Prince, "If you really must know, I saw it happen."

The Prince's eyes widen in shock, "What do you mean you 'saw it happen'?"

"As in I foresaw it happen before it happened, I had a vision in a dream, I had a premonition, whatever you want to call it. What the hell do you think it means Vegetta?"

"Don't be sass with me Zukira." He warned.

"Or what? What're you gonna do? You gonna threaten my life with death? Are you going to 'assend' and show me why I should'nt sass to the 'Prince of all Saiyans'?" She said calmly, "You can threaten me all you want Vegetta but it still won't change anything."

Vegetta gave the Hibiki mother a dirty look. He never liked being spoken to like that by anybody, but he took a calming breath to calm himself from retorting. He knew that if he were to say anything then he would never get his answers from the stubborn female. He'd learned that from his wife during their marriage. In his opinion Saiyan women and Earth women were no different in that department, "And what did you 'see' exactly?" He asked through clenched teeth.

Zukira took a calming breath herself, "I saw Kakarrot, all grown up, facing Frieza on another planet with green skies and blue grass lands. Then I saw Frieza facing that which he'd feared the most, a golden haired Saiyan warrior surrounded in a brilliant golden light with power that surpassed his own. A Super Saiyan. And then I saw them fighting on a dying planet before it exploded." She turned towards the Saiyan Prince, "So am I wrong?"

Vegetta didn't answer. The way the Hibiki mother had explained what she 'saw' was just how it had happened on Planet Namek all those years ago, but how was that possible, "How did you…"

"How did I know?" Zukira finished for him, "And I guess your next question would be 'why haven't I mention this before?' Well the answer to both of those questions is that I received the vision after Dodoria left me for dead after he tried to kill me, right after I discovered that I was going to be a mother." She looks over at her son and smiles.

"But why did you choose to come to Earth?"

Zukira shrugged, "I don't know what made me decide to come to Earth. All I know was that after I had that vision I had to make everyone believe that I was dead so that Frieza wouldn't think to look for me, because going back wasn't an option and I wasn't going to let that murderous bastard take my son. And I certainly wasn't going to call you for help because I knew that if Frieza didn't kill me then you were gonna kill me yourself as soon as you found out that I was pregnant."

Vegetta grunted softly and looked down to the floor. He couldn't deny that she spoke the truth, in the past he would've killed her without hesitation, he also would've justified it as a lesson to her for overlooking her betters at the time.

"So you chose to run and hide, and not only that but you also had a monk place a spell on you and your brat to further hide yourselves only to spend sixteen years wandering aimlessly on Earth until it was broken." Vegetta said bluntly.

"Well forgive me if the choice I made to protect my child isn't what our people would've done." She said sarcastically, "After Ryoga was born I wanted to make sure that neither Frieza nor his lackeys, or even you could find us. To make it impossible for them to track us down even with their precious scouters. That's why I went to the temple on Mount Fuji because the Monk said that he could help me." Then she frowns looking down to the ground, "Unfortunately I got what I asked for, as an added 'bonus' it also made it so that we couldn't get to where we needed to go." She tightened her hands into fists, "If I had known that the end result would be us losing our sense of direction until the charm broke, I never would've done it in the first place." She paused and took a breath, "It was a stupid decision, I'll admit that but I had lost everything that was dear to me, my family, my friends, my home, and the man I love so much. I couldn't lose my son as well."

"Why didn't you look for Kakarrot when you landed on Earth?" Vegetta asked, "Surely he would've helped you, given that what he's known for."

Zukira didn't miss the sarcasm in the Prince's voice, "If I had known that he was here I would've."

Vegetta blinked in surprise, "You mean to tell me that you didn't know that Kakarrot was sent to this planet to conquer it?"

"No." She said, which was true she hadn't known where her brother-in-law had been sent to when he was sent out as an infant, "All I knew was that Kakarrot was sent out before Frieza destroyed our home planet, I just didn't know where."

"Raditz never mentioned it to you?"

"No cause he didn't know that Kakarrot was still alive until I told him."

"And why didn't you mention that you knew that Frieza blew up out home planet?"

"You already asked me that question and I already told you why."

"Well you still should've told me anyway." He said firmly, "As the Prince of all Saiyans I have the right to know the truth."

"Like you would listen to a third-class like me?" She sneered, "Considering that you didn't seem to care that our entire race was destroyed, leaving only a small handful of us left, and that you were more than eager to take on whatever tasks Frieza gave you without question."

"You know as well as I that none of us had a choice in that matter Zukira. It was kill or be killed, you know that."

Kill or be Killed, you either kill your opponent or you end up getting killed. That was the quote that the Saiyans had always lived by, whether it was before or after Frieza arrived nobody knows, and in the end they met their end by Frieza who was afraid of the Saiyans becoming too strong to control and turning on him.

"And FYI you weren't the only one who despised Frieza. And did you really think that you were the only prisoner on his damn ship?"

"Well you sure had me fooled Vegetta, with the way you were always bowing and kneeling before that disgusting lizard happily accepting his orders and commands. 'Yes Master Frieza' 'Of course Master Frieza' 'As you command Master Frieza'. What was I supposed to think, hmm?" She asked giving Vegetta a hard look.

Vegetta clenched his fists, "I was biding my time. I wasn't strong enough to take on Frieza yet. So I had to take on those tasks to build up my strength so that when the time was right I would face Frieza and defeat him once and for all."

"Would that be before or after Frieza destroyed the entire universe and us along with it?" Zukira rubbed her chin, "Oh wait, I forgot. You don't give a rat's ass about anyone or anything but yourself. And when Frieza was out of the way, you would just pick up where he left off and we'd be right back where we started, in yet another unending cycle of death and destruction."

"What would you rather have me do then if not that?" He demands.

"Oh I don't know, maybe search for other surviving Saiyans to form a rebellion and avenge your father and our people who died at the hands of that monster. That would've been a good start but no, you decided to follow the same exact path that led our race to destruction because strength was the only thing that mattered to you. I seem to remember those being your exact words Vegetta."

"If that's what you think should've been done then why didn't you start a rebellion yourself?"

"Even if I had gone through with that plan myself and had found other survivors, who would believe a word a lowly third-class like me would say?" She counters back, "No matter how much truth my words held, who would believe me? Because of the bigotry held against low-class warriors done by your father and all the elites, we're seen as nothing but a waste of space and Saiyan blood. Nothing we did was ever good enough and no matter how hard we worked to please either your father or… Frieza, we were still looked down upon and treated like trash." She said bitterly.

Her mind went back to when she was a child, she remembered how she, Raditz and the rest of their group were always being put down by other Saiyans, young and old, because of their ranks. Then she thought about Bardock, her mentor and Godfather. The memory of when he tried to warn the other Saiyans of Frieza's plan to destroy them and they just laughed at him.

Sensing her distress Checkers nuzzled her left hand to offer the Hibiki mother comfort. Zukira gently rubbed the two-toned dogs furry head and smiled. She was glad that she allowed Ryoga to keep the dog when he brought her home as a little puppy.

Vegetta stares at her, "You think that I would do that?"

"Without a doubt, because it's what you've always done." She answers without hesitation, "The only difference was that you claimed that when you 'defeated' Frieza, you would take your 'rightful' place as Ruler of the Universe or whatever stupid name you wanted to call yourself, like any other pride-driven, egotistical, power-hungry moron, with me by your side as your breeder to rebuild the Saiyan race." She crossed her arms over her chest, "That's one of the reasons why I left because I refused to see history repeat itself again and be part of it."

"And what made you think that it would've gone that way under my rule?"

"Do you really want me to answer that Vegetta?"

"Hey is everything alright in here?" Vegetta and Zukira turned and saw Goku standing in the doorway, "I could feel both of your energies spiking now and again, so I thought I'd check and see if everything was okay."

The Saiyan Prince and Hibiki mother looked at each other before turning back to the Earth raised Saiyan, "Everything's fine Kakarrot."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Kakarrot, we were just having a… heated discussion." Zukira looked over at her son's dresser, the clock read eleven fifteen and she was exhausted, "Look it has been a long tiring day and I'd like to go to bed because I have things to prepare for my son's day tomorrow. If you don't mind?" She directed her gaze to Vegetta as she said it.

She and Vegetta walk out of the room while Checkers and her pups stayed. Goku quietly shuts the door but before she turns to leave, Vegetta stops her, "Hold it, there's one more thing I must know."

Zukira sighed, "What is it?"

"Why did you choose him? Why did you choose that weakling Raditz?" He demanded calmly, his dark eyes drilling into her.

Zukira blinked, "You're kidding right?"

"Does it sound like I'm kidding woman?"

Goku could tell right away that things were heating up again, "Uh Vegetta, I don't think now's the time for…"

"Shut up Kakarrot."

"You mean to tell me that after all this time, you still haven't figured it out?" Zukira asked, finding it a bit amusing.

Vegetta growled, "Stop playing games and answer my question!"

Zukira's violet eyes narrowed, "I'm not playing anything, but if you really must know it's because Raditz possessed the exact qualities that I prefer in a mate. You may be the Prince of all Saiyans Vegetta but that's nothing but a stupid title that you continually boast about. It means nothing to me, it never meant anything to me. I don't care about ranks, I don't care about class, I don't care about any of those things that elites all seem to care about. Hell you and I could've been the last living Saiyans in the whole universe and I still wouldn't have chosen you."

Goku stood there in silence while Vegetta was speechless to say the least, finally he said, "So you'd rather our race go extinct than mate with an elite warrior? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes. Besides it's not like you really cared anyway. You and Nappa only saw me as a way to repopulate the Saiyan race as well as a third-class weakling. So why would being your mate make any difference?" She demands, she glanced at Goku then she took a slow calming breath before saying, "I chose Raditz because I love him, I've always loved him even when we were young. He was my first friend, my partner, my strength and my first and only love. And nothing would change that, not you, not even Frieza."

Vegetta was stunned by this, not only by Zukira's explanation about her choice but also by her choice of words she just used. Even Goku caught it, "You still love him don't you Zukira? Even after everything that's happened you still love him?"

"A woman never forgets their first love Kakarrot." She said calmly, "No matter how hard we try to, we just can't. And in a way, we don't want to forget." She looks up at Goku, "So yes, I do still love him."

"And knowing now of what the outcome would be between you and Raditz before you two got together, would you still have chosen to be with him?" Vegetta asked.

Zukira says nothing as she contemplates Vegetta's question, then she says, "Yes." She admits quietly, "Yes I would." And with that she turned and headed towards her room leaving two stumped Saiyans staring after her.

* * *

Tatewaki Kuno sat waiting inside a local coffee shop with his arms folded, he had sent a letter of meeting to the home where his beloved Akane Tendo lived. Unfortunately it wasn't his beloved Akane that he was meeting in this, as he and his twisted sister have put it, hovel of a restaurant. No he was waiting for someone who he still couldn't believe has blood relation to his beautiful Akane Tendo. He glanced up at the clock hanging behind the counter, it was five minutes to eight and his 'somewhat' accomplice still hasn't shown up yet. Though he wrote in his letter to meet him here at 8 A.M. sharp, he hated waiting.

"Curses! Where is that woman?"

"You called Kuno-baby?" Came a sly female voice from behind.

Kuno turned and scowled, "Nabiki Tendo, I have told you countless times to never address me in such a way."

Nabiki scoffed softly, "You can tell me again and again all you want Kuno-Baby but that doesn't mean that I'll do it. That is unless you make worth my while." She said in a sly tone.

"I despise you, you know that." Kuno said hollowly.

"Ooh you're breaking my heart." Nabiki said coolly taking a seat in the opposite chair across from Kuno. A waiter came to the table and Nabiki ordered her usual coffee drink but made it a triple with a breakfast muffin, "So care to explain why you called me to meet you at a coffee shop at eight in the morning on a Saturday."

"Very well then." He said calmly, he may 'despise' Nabiki but she is that best at what she does, "It would seem that the God of Love Cupid has pierced me again with thine sweet searing arrows of love, for he has sent an angel from the Heavens above whom has captured my heart."

Nabiki couldn't help but roll her eyes yet at the same time she was interested, who was the un-lucky girl who has caught Kuno's attention now, "I see, so now you have three girls that you're madly in love with. Which the other two concedes of my sister Akane and the Pigtailed-girl? Correct?"

"Indeed." Kuno nodded, "Tis but a blessing and yet a curse to be favored by the Gods above. To be gifted with three gorgeous women in which all three have captured my heart. But how can one such as I choose between each of them when I love them all!?" He asked loudly. Luckily no one paid them any attention, either that or they've learned to completely ignore the out-spoken Kuno when he or his sister was present.

Nabiki was only half listening to Kuno while she enjoyed her coffee, making sure to use her good hand and keep her injured one hidden. She'd heard his dramatic speech before when he first became interested in her sister Akane and again when he discovered Ranma's girl form, and in truth it meant nothing to her except taking more photos of her sister and Ranma-chan and that meant more money in her pocket.

The only reason she ever agrees to meet Kuno anywhere was to get what she can from him financially through free meals and selling him new photos of her sister and Ranma-chan for however much he was willing to pay for them. Of course she had another reason for meeting him today but now she was interested to know who this 'new girl' is that's caught Kuno's attention. She may have to add another to her list.

"So this 'angel' of yours, does she have a name?" Nabiki asked between sips.

"Alas, I have yet to know her name for our meeting was very brief, but as they say 'destiny works in many mysterious ways'." Kuno said.

"Of course it does." She said in a bored tone, "So how'd you meet her?" She asked sipping her coffee.

"I was out patrolling the streets searching for that coward Saotome when I heard that he'd fled the school grounds before the day had ended, when I spotted my beloved Pigtailed-girl, but she wasn't traveling with Akane Tendo as she so often does. No, this time she was accompanied by a mysterious raven-haired angel whom of which I have never seen before." He smiled, "I introduced myself and she requested a challenge with me and I, being the compliant gentleman that I am, obliged without hesitation."

"Uh-huh." Nabiki replied, 'In translation he made his 'Blue Thunder' or whatever speech and then issued his 'if you beat me I'll allow you to date me' speech, and wound up getting his stupid butt sent into orbit by whoever this girls is.' She thought to herself while continuing to sip her beverage and listen to Kuno's continued babbling.

"During our battle she displayed an incredible show of strength and agility the likes of which I've only seen from both Akane Tendo and the Pigtailed-girl, but her strength, I dare say, surpasses that of Akane Tendo and her agility matches the Pigtailed girl. Truly this Umbrella-wielding Bandanna girl is a fierce warrior yet she possesses the majestic beauty and grace of an angel." He says dramatically.

An image of Ryoga-chan appeared in behind Kuno, wearing a flowing white gown with gold trimming, she wore gold arm bracers with a matching chocker and tiara on her head. Her shimmering silver wings spread open behind her as she opened her eyes, revealing a beautiful pair of violet colored eyes that sparkled like diamonds.

When Kuno gave a description of his new love interest, in his own special way, it didn't take long for Nabiki to put two and two together and when she did she expressed her shock by spraying a mouthful of coffee in Kuno's face and began coughing, 'Umbrella-wielding… Bandanna girl?!' She repeated in her mind wiping spilled coffee from her chin, 'Kuno's mysterious angel is… Ryoga's girl form?!' Before she could press the matter further she noticed that everyone in the Coffee Shop was staring at her and Kuno, and more importantly her beverage had been spilt, "Now look what you made me do." She said calmly.

Kuno made a disgusted face and opened his eyes, "What _**I**_ made you do Nabiki Tendo?" He reached for his napkin and wiped the spewed coffee beverage mixed with saliva from his face.

Nabiki couldn't believe it, though she didn't know why she couldn't. She knew at some point that Kuno would add Ryoga's girl side to his list of 'beloved goddess' or whatever he calls it but she'd hoped to plant the seed first. Oh well, all it meant was that her job just got a lot easier. She quickly regained her crafty poise and grinned. She could already see the mountains of yen coming her way now.

'Just you wait Hibiki. I'll be collecting payment from you yet, with interests as well.' She chuckled softly, but first she had to get a refill, "Another triple shot caramel hazelnut mocha latte with extra whipped cream and chocolate syrup. And give me a couple of those fruit-filled Danish things." She called out before turning to Kuno, "Kuno baby, you just made my day worthwhile this morning." She grinned.

* * *

"Hah-choo! I know that's not a good sign." Ryoga sniffed. He stared back at his reflection in the mirror in his bedroom and no matter how he looked in the mirror the result was the same.

When he woke up the first thing he noticed was that he was in his bed in his room, though he couldn't remember how he got there, and it was morning. The last thing he remembered was being in the living room with his mother, Ranma and Ukyo along with some people that'd he'd never seen before and his mom telling him that they were aliens and that the reason for their no sense of direction was because of a charm his mother had a Monk place on them when he was a baby.

For a moment, he believed that it had all been a dream but then when he felt an odd sensation coming from his backside as well as an odd tickling feeling on his back, he soon realized that it wasn't.

Looking in the mirror he noticed some definite changes. His black hair was longer, thicker, spikier, which explained the tickling sensation he felt earlier on his back, and it reached past his rear. His muscles were bigger, more cut and he wasn't sure but he looked taller too. And to top it off he now had a furry monkey-tail growing from his backside.

'So this is me? This is how I'm supposed to look?' He wondered and he had to admit that he really didn't look too bad.

Then he heard a noise outside his window. Ryoga looked outside his window and spotted a small black and white bird perched on a branch next to his window. For a moment the bird just sat there, occasionally preening its feathers and tilting its head to one side, then it flew away. Ryoga could hear the loud 'fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh' of its wings through the closed glass.

He could also hear chattering coming from downstairs. He heard voices but not ones he was familiar with, he heard footsteps which meant that he and his mother weren't alone in the house, and he could feel strong powerful energies, stronger than anything he'd ever felt before coming from more than one person.

He shook his head but as he did he started to tilt to one side, "Whoa whoa…" He tried to steady himself but in the end he fell to the floor on his butt, "Oww!"

"Having some trouble there?"

Ryoga looked to his right and found Goku standing in the doorway of his room, "Oh it's you. Kaka…rot, right? Or is it Goku?"

"It's Goku." He said, "Even though Vegetta and your mom call me by my Saiyan name Kakarrot, I prefer to be called Goku. It's just the name that my adopted grandfather gave me."

"Um… okay." Ryoga says standing back up while using his dresser to steady himself, "So what're you doing here?"

"Your mom asked me to check on you to see if you were awake and to see how you were doing while she and my wife Chi-Chi are making breakfast." Before Ryoga could reply he starts to lose his balance again, "Whoa easy there. Here why don't you sit back down?" Goku leads him back to the bed and then took a seat beside him.

"Thanks. I don't know why I'm having a hard time standing up right."

"It's because of your tail." Ryoga looked at him oddly, "From what your mom said last night after the Monk placed the charm on both of you she removed both yours and her tail so that you'd both fit in better. But now that the charm is broken you both have your tails back it's throwing off your balance. But don't worry, you'll get used to it. It just takes practice."

"If you say so." The young Hibiki said unsurely. He looked down where his new tail lay beside him, for some reason the tail didn't seem to bother him one bit, in fact it started bringing back distant memories that he'd long since forgotten about. Then he looked back to his uncle and asked, "Speaking of tails, where's your tail?"

"My tail was removed a long time ago." Goku said nonchalantly, "But believe me I had some trouble myself when I lost my tail the first time." He watches his nephew's tail twitch on the bed. It moved the same way Raditz's tail moved when he revealed it to him.

"So you're my uncle from my dad's side huh?" Ryoga asked.

"Yeah." Goku nodded, "I'm not what you expected am I?"

Ryoga shrugged, "Actually I didn't really have any expectations. Even though Mom told me that I have an uncle on my Dads side, I didn't think that I would ever meet him… or you… anytime soon."

"Yeah I remember you mentioning that at the restaurant yesterday." He smiled, "Who would've thunk, right?"

"Yeah." Ryoga smiled a little.

"So how're you feeling this morning?"

"Uh… okay, I guess. I mean physically I feel great, really great, like I just woke up from a very long restful sleep." Then he looked down to the floor, "But…"

"But?" Goku echoed.

"I… I dunno… this whole thing about mom telling me that she, my dad, and I are aliens, the reason behind our sense of direction and why we get lost all the time and everything that's happened last night. Plus finding out that I'm not really a Hibiki and that the people that I've known as Grandma and Grandpa are not really my grandparents makes me wonder what else do I know that isn't true. And those stories that mom used to tell me about the Saiyans when I was a kid, I'm getting a headache just thinking about it."

"Well we don't want that now do we." Then Goku asked, "Uh Ryoga, how much did your mother tell you about the Saiyans?"

"Pretty much everything, that they were warriors that had tails and love fighting, how they lived, and how they were being ruled by an evil tyrant named Frieza. Who made them destroy and conquer planets for him, up until he betrayed them and only a handful of the Saiyans were left." He ran a hand through his long hair, "I thought that they were just stories and nothing more." Ryoga sighed, "You know a small part of me doesn't want to believe it, that this all a crazy dream and I'll wake up any minute now. And yet the rest of me looks back at everything that's happened in my life and suddenly it's all starting to make sense to me now."

"How's that?"

Ryoga took a deep breath and sighed, "Well even as a kid I've always known that I was different. I've always been physically stronger than all of the kids my age, and I still am that I know of, my senses and reflexes are beyond that of a regular person, and not to mention that I can eat more food than a dozen hungry sumo wrestlers when I haven't eaten in a long while and not even gain an ounce." Goku couldn't help but chuckle, "But I just thought that it was the result of my Martial Arts training and that's why I'm able to do all those things. I never thought that it's because I'm an alien space fighter." He said resting his chin on his hand.

"But that's not what's bothering you, is it?" Goku asked.

"No."

"Then what is bothering you?"

"It's just that… growing up with no sense of direction was pure hell. Pardon my language." Goku nodded, indicating no offence taken, "Constantly lost all the time, most of the time in the middle of nowhere in unfamiliar territories, never getting to where I need to go when I needed to, being mocked at by people all around, and never knowing when I'll be home again. I even got lost in my own home, I'd be trying to find the bathroom or my own bedroom and the next thing I know I'm standing outside in the middle of a jungle somewhere, or next to an ocean or whatever and I have no idea how the hell I even got there."

Goku blinked in shock, "You're kidding."

Ryoga scoffs lightly, "I wish." He looked down to the ground, "I often wondered what my family had done that was so heinous that the Fates decided to punish our entire family line with having no sense of direction." He took a calming breath, "But now hearing the reason behind the directional curse… I… I don't know what to think."

Goku didn't say anything but he understood how his nephew felt. He'd felt the same way when he finally discovered the truth about his Grandfather Gohan's death while fighting Vegetta in his Great Ape form, that the 'monster' that trampled him to death… was him. It broke his heart when he realized the truth but what shocked him even more that his friends knew about it the whole time and no one told him. But he didn't hold it against his friends, he couldn't because he knew that their hearts were in the right place, just like he knew that Zukira's heart was set on protecting her child. Like any loving mother.

"Ryoga, your mother was only doing what she thought was right and I can tell that both of you had suffered a lot because of her decision to keep you and her hidden. But if she told you everything about Frieza and everything that he'd done, can you really be angry at her for wanting to protect you from a cold ruthless monster like Frieza and for doing her duty as a mother?"

Ryoga took a moment to think about the other Saiyan's question but at the same time he already knew the answer, "No and I understand why she did it." Then he glanced at his Uncle, "But I still wish that she'd told me the real reason behind our no sense of direction instead of telling me that it was hereditary."

Goku couldn't help but smile, "You know I have to say that you're taking this very well."

"I don't think fainting in the middle of a restaurant is considered 'taking it well'." Ryoga said dryly.

"I guess not." Goku says sheepishly, "But it's true though." He looks at the young Saiyan, "Look I understand that this is a lot to take in, believe me I do, but it's not that bad."

"How do you figure that?"

"Because I went through the same thing you're going through." He said, Ryoga turned to him, "Remember when your mom said that I was sent out as a baby before Frieza destroyed Planet Vegetta?" Ryoga nodded, "Well I was sent here to Earth. I was supposed to conquer this planet but I had an accident when I was very young and I hit my head so hard that I forgot about everything, who and what I was, where I came from, and my mission. Since then I grew up on Earth, never realizing that I was really from another planet. Then 20 or so years later, when my eldest son Gohan was a little boy, I find out that I'm a Saiyan warrior, a planetary space pirate. Of course I didn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it, but then after a while I started to accept it. It wasn't easy but then again nothing ever is."

Ryoga nodded, "You got that right."

"It also made me realize that this doesn't change who I am. I'm still the same person as before, I still love fighting and training and I'm always ready to face the next challenge that comes along, I just now have a better understanding about myself." He turned to the younger Saiyan, "And this doesn't change who you are either Ryoga, you're still the same person you were yesterday only now you know what you are and what you choose to do with this knowledge is entirely up to you."

Ryoga said nothing as he thought about what Goku had said. The two Saiyans continued to talk for a while longer, until Ryoga's stomach made itself heard.

Goku chuckled, "Sounds like someone's hungry."

Ryoga's face flushed, "I guess so."

"Well c'mon let's go see if breakfast is ready."

"Wait I've got one more question to ask you."

"Okay, what?"

"How'd you find out that you're a… a Saiyan? Did that Vegetta guy tell you?"

"No I didn't meet Vegetta till a year later after I found out." He said, "It was Raditz who told me." He said slowly.

Ryoga's eye widened, "My… Dad?" Goku nodded, "You mean he was here?"

Goku nodded again, "Raditz came to Earth over 13 years ago looking for me. He uh…" He sighed, this was going to be tricky to explain, "He came to Earth to recruit me but when he learned that I didn't complete my mission because I forgot it and that I lost my tail, he was furious. And let's just say things didn't really pan out so well between us in the end." He cast his eyes to the floor, "And there are times that I wish that things had gone differently than the way it did between us."

Ryoga could hear remorse in the elder Saiyans words and at that moment it dawned on him as to what happened between him and his father, but he would save it for another time.

At that moment Zukira appeared at the doorway, "Hey look who's finally awake. Is everything alright?"

Goku nodded, "Yeah everything's fine. Is breakfast ready yet?"

"It will be in a few more minutes." She saw Goku's shoulders slump slightly and chuckled, "Kakarrot could you give us a minute please?"

"Huh? Oh sure. See you guys down stairs." He stood up, "Oh by the way, Happy Birthday Ryoga."

Ryoga almost forgot that today was his birthday, "Thanks… and uh thanks for the talk… Uncle Goku." He smiled. Goku returned the smile and left the room.

The Hibiki mother turned to her son, "How're you feeling sweetie?"

"Uhh… good. Really good actually." He rubbed the back of his head, "Although it feels like my senses are cranked to the max ya know." He looks up at his mother and noticed of the physical changes on her. Her hair was now spiky like his, she wore a furry brown belt around her waist and her eyes were now dark violet, 'Hm well that explains why girl-form has purple eyes.'

"That's to be expected." Zukira said, "Your body's adjusting to the changes. You'll notice some changes in your other senses as well as your strength and reflexes, but that's perfectly normal. I went through this before after the first change."

Ryoga nodded then he turned to his mother and asked, "It's all true isn't it? Everything you said last night about us being Saiyans, about Frieza, and everything else. It's all true?"

Zukira's smile faded "Yes. It's true."

"And the stories you used to tell me about the warrior Bardock and his crew, they're not just true but… Bardock... he was my Grandfather, wasn't he?"

Zukira was silent for a moment before nodding, "Yes. Bardock was your father's father just as your other Grandfather Tora was my father. Bardock was not only my father's best friend, he was also my mentor and he's the reason why I'm still alive." Ryoga nodded, he remembered her saying that last night, "I'm sorry Ryoga." She said quietly, "I'm so sorry about everything that's happened. I just wanted you to have a better life than the life that your father and I had. I didn't want you to grow up and become what the Saiyans had become. I thought it'd be better to wait till you were older to explain everything, that way it'd be easier to understand when the Monks charm was broken." She gently stroked his cheek with her fingers, "I know that you're upset with me for not telling you Ryoga but I did what I had to do to make sure that neither Frieza nor Vegetta could find you." Tears started filling her eyes, "You're all I have left and I couldn't stand the thought of losing you to that monster when I've already lost everything that mattered to me, including your father."

Ryoga could hear the sorrow in her words and the sight of her tears made all of his anger evaporate. She'd lost everything and was held captive for years by the same tyrant that ruled over their people and made them do his dirty work for him and then killed them in the end because they were becoming too strong. He'd always told Ranma that he'd been through hell because of the bad events in his life but now after hearing everything last night about what his mother had been through, he realizes that she'd been the one who'd really been through hell and that his troubles were nothing compared to what his mother had endured throughout her life. And yet despite all the pain, it never stopped her from doing her duty as a mother.

Goku's words came back to his mind and after what felt like an hour or so of silence he embraced his mother, "I'm sorry mom, I had no idea. And I understand now."

Zukira could feel more tears building as she hugged her son back. The fact that he now understood her actions lifted a huge weight off her heart, she kissed the side of his head while stroking his long hair. The Hibiki mother and son held each other for a while until they heard Chi-Chi scolding Goten and Trunks about nibbling before everyone gets to eat.

"You up for some breakfast Ryoga?" Zukira smiled.

"Yeah I'm famished." His stomach made itself heard again.

Zukira chuckled, "Well get dressed and come down stairs. I made your favorite pancakes this morning."

"Homemade buttermilk pancakes with honey butter and maple syrup?"

"That's right, your favorite."

"Great!" He said and stood up only to fall back onto the bed again, he folded his arms over his chest and grunted, "How am I supposed to do this without falling on my face and my butt?"

Zukira tried not to laugh, both at how cute he looked making that annoyed pouty face and that he was struggling, "Try wrapping your tail around your waist like a belt. It'll not only help you with your balance but it'll also keep others from stepping on or grabbing your tail."

Ryoga looks at his mother before doing as she suggested and wraps his tail around his waist. Once that's done he stands up slowly and takes a step, then another, then another. When he didn't fall over he gave his trademark fanged smile. He threw on a pair of forest green pants, making a hole in the back for his tail to slip through, and a gold sleeveless shirt. Once he was dressed he followed his mother out of his room and down the stairs to have breakfast.

* * *

A.N So sorry for the long update, and no I'm not dead. I just lost my momentum to write my stories plus nothing was coming to me, but now I got it back and I intend to finish this story, Demon ½, and New Allies, no matter what. Thank you all for your patience, hope you enjoy this chapter.


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